The Deep End of Maybe

Leo adjusted his baseball cap backward—his usual armor—and stared at the pool party unfolding like a fever dream he hadn't been invited to. Jenna was there, of course. She always floated through these things like she owned the atmosphere, her laugh cutting through the humidity like something sharp and bright.

"You coming in or what?" Marcus called, cannonballing into the water with a splash that sprayed Leo's sneakers.

Leo's stomach did that thing where it tried to exit through his throat. He couldn't swim. Well, he could sort of swim, in the way that you can sort of speak French after one semester of Duolingo. But here? In front of everyone? With Jenna watching?

He'd spent fourteen years building walls. Hats, hoodies, silence. Safe things.

Then he saw it—Mr. Cuddles, his childhood teddy bear, floating near the deep end like a fuzzy abandoned dream. His little sister must've brought it. Mortification burned through him so hot his face might actually be visible from space.

Jenna noticed. Of course she noticed.

"Is that... a bear?" She treaded water near the edge, droplets clinging to her eyelashes like she was wearing the pool itself.

Leo's choices were clear: Drown in embarrassment, or dive. He pulled off his hat—the first time in years—and tossed it onto a lawn chair. The air hit his hair, weird and exposed.

He jumped.

The water closed over him, cool and terrifying and absolutely alive. He kicked upward, breaking the surface gasping, and grabbed Mr. Cuddles before anyone else could.

Jenna was still there, watching him now. Really watching him.

"You saved him," she said.

Leo treaded water, heart hammering, chest weirdly open. "Yeah. I guess I did."

"Wanna race to the other side?" She grinned, and it wasn't mean. It wasn't anything he'd prepared for.

"I'll lose," Leo said.

"Obviously." Jenna splashed him. "But at least you'll be in the game."