The Summer I Didn't Drown

My hair looked like someone had attacked it with a weed whacker. Mom's kitchen scissors" disaster, she'd called it. I called it social suicide.

"You're being dramatic," Maya said, sprawled across my bed while I stared at my reflection. "It's just a pool party, not the red carpet."

Easy for her to say. Her hair always fell in these perfect beach waves that made boys trip over themselves. Mine currently resembled a brunette version of Doc Brown.

The **pool** glittered in Danny's backyard like something from a music video. Everyone who was anyone was there—including Tyler, who I'd been lowkey obsessed with since seventh period English. My stomach did that thing where it tried to exit my body.

"Hey!" Danny's voice boomed. "Did someone say food?"

I made the mistake of reaching for the spinach artichoke dip at the exact moment Tyler walked by.

"Cool shirt," he said.

"Thanks!" I replied, flashing a smile that definitely contained **spinach** in my teeth. Maya's eyes went wide, but it was too late. I'd already committed to the awkward.

Worse: his little sister had decided today was the day she'd bring her childhood treasure to show everyone.

"This is Mr. Cuddles-Bear," she announced, shoving a stuffed **bear** with a missing eye into Tyler's face. "He fights monsters."

I almost laughed. Almost. Then I remembered the similar bear hidden in my closet at home, the one I still couldn't bring myself to donate.

The **cable** guy chose that exact moment to arrive, because the universe hated me. Danny's parents were trying to set up some outdoor movie thing, and the guy with his tool belt and clipboard had to squeeze past all of us.

"Watch out, watch out," he muttered, stepping directly into the dip bowl.

Chaos erupted. Someone screamed. I may have shrieked. Tyler jumped back—straight into the pool, fully clothed.

He surfaced, sopping wet, hair plastered to his forehead like a drowning rat. And then he started laughing.

Like, really laughing.

I looked at my terrible **hair**, my spinach-filled smile, the chaos around me. And suddenly I was laughing too. Maya joined in. Even the cable guy cracked a smile.

"You know," Tyler said, paddling to the pool's edge. "Your hair's actually kind of badass. It looks like you just don't care what anyone thinks."

That's when it clicked. The hair disaster wasn't a mistake—it was armor. Protection against caring too much.

"Yeah," I said, grinning with everything I had, spinach and all. "That's exactly what it is."