The Summer We Learned to Listen

The chlorine stung my nose as I leaned against the chain-link fence, watching Maya glide through the **pool** water like she was part liquid. She was the kind of effortless that made the rest of us feel like we were trying too hard.

"You're doing it again," said Jamal, appearing beside me with his gym bag slung over one shoulder. "Staring instead of talking to her."

"I'm not staring. I'm observing," I said, though we both knew I was full of it. Maya was the only reason I'd taken this job as a pool attendant.

Jamal shook his head. "You need more confidence, bro. Maybe some of these **vitamin** supplements I've been taking. They're supposed to boost energy and focus. My swears by them."

"Your dad also thinks wearing socks with sandals is acceptable, so..." I trailed off.

That's when I noticed it — the stray **cable** snaking across the concrete near the pool equipment shed. Someone had clearly messed with the security system. I'd been helping my dad with home theater setups since middle school, and this looked amateur.

"Hold up," I said, following the cable with my eyes. It led to the storage room where the popular kids hung out during breaks.

Jamal raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Someone's set up something. Come on."

We followed the cable around back, where we found Darius and his crew huddled around a tablet screen, laughing.

"They're trying to **spy** on people's conversations," I realized, my stomach dropping. "They tapped into the security cameras and audio."

Maya's voice came through the tablet speakers, talking to her friend about how nervous she was about tryouts tomorrow. How she felt like everyone expected her to be perfect.

My hands clenched. That's what she thought? That she had to be perfect?

Jamal looked at me, then at Darius. "We should tell someone."

But I thought about Maya, about how she'd feel knowing she was being watched. About how much courage it took to even admit insecurity like that.

"No," I said, stepping out from our hiding spot. "Delete it. Now."

Darius jumped, dropping the tablet. "What the—"

"You heard me. Delete everything you recorded, or I'm going straight to the manager and telling him you tampered with security equipment. That's a police matter, by the way."

The look on Darius's face as he frantically deleted everything? That was worth it.

Later that evening, I found Maya sitting alone by the pool's edge, watching the sunset.

"Hey," I said, sitting beside her. "About tryouts tomorrow..."

"You heard?" She groaned, covering her face.

"I wasn't spying or anything," I said quickly. "But I think perfection's overrated. You're already pretty amazing as-is."

She looked at me, really looked at me, and smiled. "Thanks. That means a lot."

Jamal was right about one thing — sometimes you need confidence. But sometimes, confidence comes from doing the right thing, even when you're scared.

And maybe that's better than any vitamin supplement.