The Night I Faked It

I looked like a zombie. No, scratch that—I WAS a zombie. Three hours of sleep and way too much time refreshing Instagram will do that to you. The mirror showed dark circles that could rival any creature feature marathon, but tonight was Emma's pool party and there was no way I was bailing.

"You coming, Maya?" Emma called from the sliding door. Her backyard was basically a water park, with the pool glowing like some kind of alien spacecraft thanks to the underwater lights.

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled, grabbing my towel. My phone buzzed—Jordan had posted a story from the party already. Of course he looked perfect, shirtless by the deep end, acting like he wasn't the most popular guy at Northwood High.

I stepped outside and immediately felt out of place. Everyone was already in, splashing around with that effortless cool I could never quite pull off. Jordan waved at me, and my stomach did that annoying flip thing it always did when he noticed my existence.

"Maya! Finally!" Emma yelled, grabbing my arm. "Truth or dare. Now."

Great. The one game guaranteed to expose me as the awkward human I was. I sat on the edge of the pool, dangling my feet in the water while calculating my survival odds.

"Truth or dare, Maya?" Jordan asked, grinning like he knew exactly what kind of panic he was triggering.

"Dare," I said, because I'm an idiot who thought this was the safer option.

"I dare you to jump in. Fully clothed. Right now."

The whole pool went quiet. They were all waiting for the Maya Show—what would the anxious overthinker do this time? I could feel that zombie-mode exhaustion kicking in, the part of my brain that was just done with everything.

But then I thought about Jordan's story, about how much time I spent watching other people live while I stood on the sidelines, scared to look foolish or try too hard or whatever other thing my brain had invented to keep me safe.

So I stood up.

"Fine," I said, and cannonballed into the deep end.

Water rushed everywhere. My phone in my pocket was probably fried. My favorite hoodie was ruined. But as I surfaced, sputtering while everyone cracked up, Jordan was looking at me like I'd actually done something cool for once.

"You're actually insane," he said, splashing water at me.

"Yeah, well," I said, shivering but smiling. "Sometimes you just gotta jump in and hope you don't drown."