The Green Tide

Maya stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at her reflection. The pool party was in twenty minutes, and she'd spent forty-five minutes already trying to tame her hair into something that wouldn't frizz the moment humidity hit. Her mom called it "embracing natural texture," but Maya called it social suicide.

"You ready, sweetie?" her mom yelled up the stairs. "Ms. Patel's here!"

Maya groaned. Ms. Patel's son, Aarav, was going to be there. The same Aarav who'd sat behind her in bio since September and somehow made mitosis look fascinating. Maya grabbed the green smoothie her mom had left on the counter—spinach, banana, something green—and chugged it while racing to Aarav's mom's car.

Her heart was basically running a marathon by the time they pulled up to the Patel house. Music thumped from the backyard. Groups of people already clustered around the pool, some in the water, others sprawled on patio chairs.

Then she saw Aarav.

He was standing near the diving board, laughing at something, his dark hair still damp from obviously already being in the pool. Maya's stomach did that fluttery thing that had nothing to do with the spinach smoothie.

"Maya!" he called, spotting her. "You made it!"

She managed a wave and started toward him when disaster struck. Someone's little brother came barreling past with a supersoaker, and Maya—distracted, awkward, definitely not cool—sidestepped directly into a kiddie pool.

Splash.

She went down hard, water everywhere, her hair instantly plastered to her forehead like a drowning rat's. Green smoothie residue from her lip gloss probably smeared across her face.

Complete social annihilation.

Laughter erupted—not mean laughter, but still laughter. Maya scrambled up, ready to bolt, when Aarav appeared through the crowd, extending a hand.

"You okay?" His eyes were actually concerned, not amused.

"Yeah," she muttered, face burning. "Just... graceful."

He pulled her up, then smiled—actually smiled, not polite-smiled. "Good thing it was the shallow end. Want to get in the actual pool before something else attacks you?"

She looked at her frizzy hair, her soaked clothes, the green smear on her chin.

"Yeah," Maya said, feeling something like possibility unfurl in her chest. "Yeah, I do."