Truth Like Water

The pool party at Ashley's house was supposed to be chill—just the squad floating on inflatables, sharing Bluetooth speaker duties, and pretending we weren't all lowkey obsessing over who was noticing whom. But my brain was already spiraling before I even stepped through the fence gate.

"You good?" Marcus asked, way too observant for his own good.

"Yeah, just... thinking about that goldfish I won at the carnival last week," I lied. "It died this morning."

"That's cap," Sarah called from where she was dangling her feet in the water. "You told me you gave it to your neighbor."

Okay, so I was terrible at lying. The real issue was Jordan, who was currently across the pool, laughing at something Tyler said. My stomach did that thing where it felt like I'd swallowed a handful of glitter—shimmery and wrong all at once.

"You're being weird," Marcus said, not unkindly. "Just talk to them already."

"I can't! What if I say something stupid? What if they think I'm weird?" I whispered.

"Bro, that's such bull," Marcus said. "You're not giving yourself enough credit. Jordan's been asking about you all week."

Wait, WHAT?

Before I could process this information, someone's phone started blasting that song we'd all been obsessed with since June. Jordan looked over at me and smiled—the genuine kind that makes your chest feel like it's floating away like a helium balloon.

They swam over, pushing through the water with these effortless strokes I could never master. "Hey," they said, suddenly right there. "Marcus said you won a goldfish?"

"Uh, yeah," I said, my brain short-circuiting. "His name was Fin."

Jordan laughed, and it was better than any pool-side playlist. "That's actually adorable. We should get coffee sometime and you can tell me about Fin's life story."

The glitter in my stomach turned into something warmer, something real. Maybe Marcus was right. Maybe I'd been standing in my own way, scared of something that wasn't actually scary.

"Yeah," I said, finally actually smiling. "I'd like that."