The Pool Party Oracle

Leo's phone buzzed. Group chat: **POOL PARTY @ Maya's, 4pm. ALL invited.**

He stared at the screen. Maya Chen, queen of the sophomore class, had invited EVERYONE. Even him. The kid who'd spent freshman year perfecting the art of being invisible.

"Dude, you're actually going?" his best friend Sam asked. "That social suicide waiting to happen?"

"Maybe," Leo said, though he'd already spent twenty minutes deciding between swim trunks. Black or navy? He went with black. Classic. Safe.

At the party, bodies splashed in Maya's inground **pool**, laughter echoing off the fence. Leo hovered near the snack table, clutching a red plastic cup like it was a lifeline. Someone shoved past him—Tyler, the varsity **running** back who'd accidentally elbowed Leo in the hallway three times this semester.

"Sup, man," Tyler said, like they were friends.

Leo nodded. "Hey."

Then he overheard it: Maya and her circle by the deep end. "Someone's **spy**-ing on my private story," she said. "Like, who even does that?"

Leo's stomach dropped. Because he HAD looked at her private story—she'd left it public for like ten minutes yesterday by accident before locking it. He'd only seen one post: her complaining about how her parents were making her attend this lame family reunion instead of the football game.

He should leave. NOW.

But then Maya was in front of him, dripping wet, hair slicked back. "Leo, right?"

"Um. Yeah."

"You're in Mr. Harrison's English class," she said. "The one who wrote that essay about—what was it?"

"Existential dread in 'The Giver,'" Leo said automatically.

She laughed. And not the fake laugh she gave Tyler. Real laughter. "That essay was actually fire."

"Wait, really?"

"**Bull** you thought it was good," she said. "You got extra credit and everything. I saw."

Leo blinked. Maya Chen knew his essay?

"I might've... read over your shoulder once," she admitted, almost shy. "When you were working in the library."

The whole party blurred. People cannonballed. Music thumped. But in that moment, Leo realized something: nobody noticed him because he was busy not noticing himself.

"Your hair," Maya said. "It's getting long."

"Yeah," Leo said. "Kinda like it that way."

"Me too," she said, and then—"wanna get In-N-Out after? Some of us are going."

Leo looked at Sam, who was already grinning by the fence, giving him a thumbs up.

"Yeah," Leo said, finally setting down his cup. "Yeah, I'd like that."