Swimming in Shallow Water

The orange dusk light spilled across the baseball bleachers where I sat alone, again. My iphone buzzed in my pocket every thirty seconds like it was my only connection to the actual human world. Group chat blowing up because everyone was at Mia's party except me.

"Your vitamin deficiency makes you tired," Mom had said that morning, handing me two orange pills before school. "Take these, you'll feel better." Like vitamins could fix sophomore year.

I watched the baseball players below, their crisp uniforms flashing under the lights. Jake Sullivan slid into home plate, dirt kicking up around his cleats. The crowd cheered. I checked my phone again. Nothing new. Just me and my pet goldfish back home, both swimming in circles in too-small tanks.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?"

I looked up. This girl with messy braids and a baseball jacket three sizes too big stood there, holding an orange soda like it was a weapon. Before I could answer, she sat down anyway.

"I'm Riley," she said, cracking the soda open. "You're Maya, right? You sit behind me in English."

I nodded, surprised she knew my name.

"Yeah."

"You hiding too?" Riley asked, gesturing toward the field.

"From what?"

"From everyone acting like we're supposed to have our entire lives figured out at fifteen." She took a sip. "My mom says I need more vitamin D because I never go outside. Meanwhile she's stressing about college applications like I'm not literally halfway through tenth grade."

I laughed. I actually laughed.

"My goldfish has more freedom than I do," I said. "At least he gets to swim in circles without being asked what his five-year plan is."

Riley smiled. "Wanna get out of here? There's this diner down the road that serves orange floats that'll change your life."

I looked at my phone one last time, then slipped it into my pocket.

"Yes," I said. "Absolutely yes."

As we walked away from the baseball field, something shifted inside me. Like maybe I didn't need to be trapped in circles anymore. Maybe it was time to swim toward deeper water.