The Friday Everything Changed

The papaya sat on the counter like an alien artifact. My mom bought it because the cashier at Whole Foods said it was "exotic," which apparently translates to "your daughter will definitely eat this if you leave it out."

"You going to Jordan's party?" Leo asked, scrolling through his phone, our golden retriever Barnaby draped across his legs like a furry blanket.

"Maybe." I spun the papaya between my palms. "I don't really swim."

"It's not about swimming. It's about not being the only person who didn't go." Leo didn't look up. "Also, everyone's playing padel now. It's like tennis but cooler."

"Which I also don't play."

"That's the point. You're supposed to try new things. That's what being fourteen is about."

I wanted to tell him that trying new things was exhausting when you spent half your energy overthinking everything. The cable guy had come yesterday to fix our internet, and I'd stood in the doorway practicing what to say until he just nodded and went to work. Social anxiety hit different when your brain treated every interaction like a high-stakes performance.

Jordan's house smelled like chlorine and expensive candles when I walked in. Music thumped from the backyard. I squeezed through sliding doors to find everyone around the pool, wet hair and towels and laughter that seemed effortless.

"Mia!" Jordan waved from the edge. "We're doing padel tournament pairs. You with Marcus?"

Marcus. The guy I'd had a crush on since September, who I'd successfully avoided speaking to for seven months solid.

"Sure," I heard myself say.

We played terrible padel. Marcus kept apologizing every time he missed, and I kept hitting the fence instead of the ball. But somewhere between his dorky celebration dance when we finally scored and the way he made fun of his own coordination, the tightness in my chest loosened.

"Want to try the papaya my mom bought?" I asked later, sitting on pool edges with our feet in the water. "It's probably gross."

He took a bite and made a face. "It tastes like ... melon had a baby with a shoe."

I laughed so hard I almost fell in.

Later, when everyone jumped in the pool fully clothed because someone said "what if we just did it," I jumped too. The water shocked my skin, and I came up sputtering while Marcus laughed, and Barnaby would've barked at us if he'd been there, probably offended by all the unseemly behavior.

"See?" Leo asked when I got home, hair still damp, chlorine on my skin like a memory.

"Yeah," I said, already planning next Friday. "Maybe trying new things isn't the worst."