The Vitamin C Incident
Maya stared at the pool where everyone from freshman year seemed to be congregating like they'd all received the same group chat message. Which they probably had.
"You coming or what?" Jordan called from the edge, already knee-deep in the water. Maya's oldest friend, somehow still talking to her even after middle school happened.
"I'm thinking about it," Maya said, which was code for absolutely not.
The problem wasn't the swimming itself. She could swim. The problem was the whole performance of it—the changing into a swimsuit in front of other girls, the casual way everyone pretended not to look while definitely looking, the post-swim ritual where everyone compared谁的 skin looked best wet. It was exhausting.
Plus, she'd forgotten her vitamin D supplements at home, which her mom had sworn were non-negotiable for "mood regulation" whatever that meant, and honestly? She felt off. Not vitamin-deficient off, but like she'd missed a social cue somewhere along the way.
"Maya, seriously, it's just water," Jordan said, dripping now, summoning her with that look that said I know you're overthinking this.
And then it happened. The pool's filter system chose that exact moment to make a sound like a dying cable box—crunch, whir, SNAP—and suddenly a thick black cable whipped across the deck, catching someone's ankle and sending half the sophomore class into the water fully clothed in this chaotic splash that was somehow both terrible and perfect.
Everyone froze. Then someone laughed. Then everyone was laughing, including the people who'd just face-planted into the shallow end, and the social calculus that had been holding Maya hostage just dissolved into all this chlorine-smelling chaos.
"See?" Jordan said, grinning. "Way better than actual swimming."
Maya found herself stepping forward, toeing off her sandals. Maybe some days the only way to handle being fifteen was to let the cable snap and jump in anyway. Vitamin D deficiency could wait. This weird, wet, unexpected moment with her friend couldn't.