The Pyramid Scheme

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her oversized bucket hat like it was some kind of force field against social interaction. The water glittered with that evil, inviting sparkle that screamed "everyone is watching you and you're going to embarrass yourself."

"You coming in or what?" Jordan called from the middle of the pool, where he was already part of some three-person human pyramid that had apparently formed without her noticing. Because of course Jordan was at the top of the pyramid—metaphorically and literally. He was the guy who made everything look effortless, who could transition from awkward middle schooler to certified high school hottie over one summer break.

"Maybe later," Maya mumbled, even though they both knew she was lying. She'd been saying "maybe later" since seventh grade.

The truth was, Maya's relationship with swimming was complicated. It wasn't that she couldn't swim—she'd taken lessons as a kid and could perfectly execute all the strokes. It was the being-seen-in-a-bathing-suit part that made her want to dissolve into the pool deck. Especially when Jordan's new girlfriend, Chloe, was doing cannonballs without a care in the world, her hair somehow looking perfect even when wet.

"We're doing teams for chicken fight!" someone yelled. "Maya, you're with Jordan!"

Her heart did that thing where it simultaneously stopped and raced. She looked at Jordan, who was already making his way toward her, water dripping from his hair like something out of a movie.

"You ready to crush this?" he asked, grinning.

"I've never done chicken fight before," she admitted, feeling suddenly exposed without her hat.

"It's easy. I'll be your base. You sit on my shoulders, we knock people over. Simple."

And that's when it hit her—she wasn't just anxious about the swimming or the bathing suit or the whole being-seen thing. She was anxious about being part of something. About trusting someone else to literally hold her up while she tried not to fall.

But Jordan was already positioning himself in the water, looking at her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Your hat's still on," he pointed out, laughing.

Maya looked at the bucket hat in her hand, then at the shimmering blue water, then at Jordan waiting for her like he actually believed in her. She dropped the hat on the deck.

"Yeah," she said, sliding into the water. "Let's do this."