The Fox at the Deep End

Maya gripped her phone so hard her knuckles turned white. The Instagram story from Casey's pool party glowed on her iPhone screen—everyone from sophomore year there, laughing, swimsuit-clad, perfect. And she wasn't.

"You going?" Her mom appeared in the doorway, holding out a neon orange bottle. "Your vitamins."

Maya sighed and swallowed the pill without water. "Probably not."

"Maya, you can't hide forever."

But that was exactly what she'd been doing since the incident at the community pool last summer—the one everyone still whispered about. The one where she'd frozen at the diving board while some freshman filmed it, then posted it with the caption "mermaid in distress lmao."

Her phone buzzed. A text from Casey herself: *hey u should come!! bringing my friend jamie from camp, she's cool*

Maya stared at the screen. Casey had been her best friend since kindergarten, until everything got weird freshman year. Now Casey ran with the popular crowd and Maya ran with... well, mostly her anxiety and her Netflix account.

She grabbed her swimsuit from the back of her drawer. Whatever.

The party was already in full swing when she arrived, thumbing her phone like a security blanket. People were cannonballing off the diving board like the incident had never happened. Like Maya hadn't become a meme.

"You made it!" Casey materialized, dripping wet, with a girl Maya didn't know. "This is Jamie."

"Hey." Jamie had kind eyes. "Casey said you're the one who—"

"Yeah." Maya cut her off. "That's me. The girl who can't swim."

"I was gonna say, Casey said you draw really cool foxes on your notes." Jamie pulled out her own phone. "I saw your art on her story last week."

Maya blinked. "You saw that?"

"Duh. Your style is sick." Jamie grinned. "I'm trying to learn to draw animals. You could teach me?"

Casey rolled her eyes. "See? I told you she'd get it. Jamie literally collects fox figurines. It's weird but we love her anyway."

Jamie splashed water at Casey. "Shut up! Anyway, you should come swimming. The deep end's not that deep."

Maya looked at the pool. The diving board loomed like a judgment. But Casey was watching her, and Jamie was waiting, and suddenly the vitamin her mom made her take seemed to kick in—or maybe it was just that she was tired of being the girl who stayed on her phone.

"Fine." Maya dropped her iPhone on a lawn chair. "But if I freeze again, you're both jumping in after me."

"Deal," said Casey.

"Deal," said Jamie.

And as Maya stepped toward the water, she realized maybe that's all friendship really was—someone jumping in after you, even when you're sure you'll sink.