Thunder Pool Party

Maya leaned against the chain-link fence, feeling like a total spy watching the cool kids at Tyler's pool party. It was lame, she knew, but she'd been crushing on Tyler since freshman year, and tonight felt like her chance. Not that she'd actually, like, talk to him or anything — she'd been creeping on his Instagram stories for months, which was basically the same thing, right?

Her best friend Jada elbowed her. "You're staring again. It's giving obsessed."

"Am not," Maya lied, smooth as a fox. "Just observing the ecosystem. You know, for science."

"Mhm. Sure." Jada rolled her eyes so hard it looked painful. "The only science happening here is how quickly you're gonna embarrass yourself."

Before Maya could clap back, the sky went sideways — literally, like, scary fast. Lightning cracked across the horizon, purple and electric, making everyone at the pool scream. Thunder shook the ground beneath their flip-flops, and suddenly the party vibe was dead.

"Everybody out!" Tyler's mom yelled from the back door. "Storm's coming in hot!"

Water sprayed everywhere as people scrambled out of the pool. Maya got jostled sideways, and her phone slipped from her grip — clunk, right into the deep end. She watched it sink like her social life.

But then Tyler was there, diving in after it, surfacing a second later with her dripping phone. "Got it," he said, shaking water from his curls. "This thing's seen better days."

Her phone. With all her embarrassing screenshots and thirst traps and that one TikTok where she'd practiced saying hi to him like fifty times.

"You didn't, like, see anything, did you?" she asked, wanting to die.

"Nah," Tyler said, grinning like he knew everything. "But, hey, you coming to the bonfire tomorrow? Jake's house. We're doing s'mores and being basic."

Maya felt lightning strike again, but this time different — better. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be there."

Jada mouthed "you're welcome" from across the pool, and Maya realized maybe she didn't have to spy from the sidelines anymore. She could just, like, exist. And that felt pretty huge. Especially for someone who couldn't even keep her phone dry at a pool party.