The Palm Tree Pact

Maya adjusted her bucket hat for the thousandth time, already regretting letting bri talk her into coming to this party. The popular kids' backyard stretched out like a different planet — an actual in-ground pool (who has those anymore?), string lights everywhere, and this massive palm tree that made their suburban house feel like some tropical resort.

"You're doing it again," Bri said, bumping her shoulder. "That thing where you psych yourself out before anything even happens."

"I'm not psyching myself out. I'm observing. There's a difference."

"You're literally hiding behind a palm tree."

Maya's face heated up. "It's strategic positioning."

"It's weird. Just come swim."

"I don't even have a suit," Maya lied.

Bri gave her that look — the one that said they'd been best friends since third grade and Maya was absolutely not getting away with this nonsense. "You have one in your bag. I saw you pack it."

Whatever. Maya wasn't about to admit she'd spent forty-five minutes picking out this specific hat to hide behind because she felt awkward about showing up without knowing anyone. Middle school had been brutal enough, and now high school was supposed to be this fresh start, but honestly? Same garbage, different building.

Then she saw him.

Lucas from her English class was standing by the pool, laughing at something someone said, looking completely unbothered. Like he belonged here. Like he wasn't secretly calculating exit strategies or overanalyzing every social interaction or feeling like everyone was judging him for not being cool enough.

"Oh my god," Bri whispered. "You're staring."

"I'm not —"

"You should talk to him."

"Absolutely not."

"Maya, you've had a crush on him since literally September. It's May. Something has to give."

Before Maya could formulate a sufficiently sarcastic response, Lucas looked over. Their eyes met across the pool, and for three seconds, time actually stopped. Then someone cannonballed into the water, drenching them both, and whatever moment might have been happening dissolved into chaos.

Lucas laughed, shaking water from his hair. "Well, that happened."

Maya stood there, dripping wet, her hat completely ruined, water dripping down her face. And instead of dying of mortification like she expected, she started laughing too.

"Hi," Lucas said, grinning at her. "I'm Lucas. We have English together, right?"

"Yeah," she managed. "Maya."

"Cool," he said. "Wanna get in the pool? The deeper end's actually pretty decent."

Bri mouthed "YOU'RE WELCOME" from behind his back, and Maya realized something: sometimes the worst moments aren't the ones where everything goes wrong. They're the ones where you almost don't let anything happen at all.

"Yeah," she said, pulling off her soggy hat. "Yeah, I do."