Summer Static

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, her cutoffs gripping her thighs like a nervous promise. The backyard was already packed—Tyler's pool parties were legendary, and she'd finally been invited. At fifteen, this was basically her social debut.

"You coming in or what?" Tyler called, doing a cannonball that sent water cascading over the concrete. Maya forced a smile, but her stomach was doing backflips. She wasn't exactly pool-confident. Okay, she wasn't pool-confident at all.

Then her brother's dog—a chaotic Golden Retriever named Brody—burst through the gate, leash trailing behind him like a chaotic comet tail. Someone must've left the side door open again.

"Brody!" Maya yelled, but he was already tearing toward the party like he'd been invited too. The popular kids scattered. Sophie, who Maya had been lowkey trying to impress all year, shrieked as Brody shook his wet fur everywhere like a living sprinkler.

"Your dog is literally insane," Sophie said, laughing. Not mean-laughing. Actually laughing. Like, they were sharing a moment.

Maya's phone buzzed. Her mom: "Missed you at dinner. Don't forget we're canceling cable tomorrow if you don't clean your room."

She groaned. Of course. Her mom had been threatening to cut the cable for weeks, and tonight of all nights, the deadline had arrived. No cable meant no binge-watching her shows to escape social anxiety. No background noise to fill the silences.

"Everything good?" Sophie asked, suddenly beside her.

Maya looked at Sophie—really looked at her. Sophie wasn't some unapproachable goddess. She was just a girl in a swimsuit, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah," Maya said, and it wasn't a lie. "Just family drama."

"Join the club," Sophie said, nodding at Tyler, who was currently wrestling Brody's leash away from a giggling freshman. "That idiot broke his phone last week and his parents won't replace it. He's basically living like it's 1999."

They both laughed, and something in Maya's chest loosened. The pool glittered behind them, blue and inviting and not scary at all.

"Wanna go in?" Maya asked.

"Race you," Sophie said.

Maybe Maya didn't need cable TV to escape reality. Maybe she could just dive right into it instead.