The Orange Hat Incident

Maya stood by the pool, clutching her ridiculous neon **orange** swim cap like it was a hand grenade. The **water** shimmered blue and perfect below, but her stomach was doing backflips.

"You coming, Maya?" Jake called from the diving board, his wet **hair** plastered to his forehead in that annoyingly perfect way. "Or are you just gonna stand there looking cute?"

Her face burned. This was exactly why she'd spent three months **running** from swim tryouts last year. But this year was different. This year, Maya wasn't going to be the girl who sat on the sidelines watching everyone else live.

She jammed the **hat** onto her head, ignoring how it made her look like a traffic cone with legs. Whatever. At least traffic cones got noticed.

The pool deck felt like a runway of judgment. Every step seemed louder than it should have, her heartbeat providing the bass line. But then she saw him—Jake, wiping water from his eyes, actually waiting for her.

"Finally," he grinned as she reached the edge. "Took you long enough."

Maya stood at the precipice, neon orange and terrified. And then she jumped.

The shock of cold water stole her breath. When she surfaced, sputtering and laughing, Jake was already there, treading water beside her.

"See?" he said. "Not so bad."

Maya flipped onto her back, floating under the fluorescent lights, orange cap and all. Maybe this year really would be different. Maybe she'd finally stop watching from the sidelines and start getting in the game.

"Race you to the other side," she challenged.

Jake's eyebrows shot up. "You're on."

They dove under together, and for the first time, Maya wasn't running anymore.