Truth or Darin

Maya's palms were sweating. Again. She wiped them on her denim shorts – fifth time in three minutes. The 'pool party of the year' at Chloe's house was supposed to be legendary, but Maya mostly felt like a legendary mess. The whole grade was there, splashing in the glowing blue water, while she sat safely on the edge, swinging her legs and trying to look casual.

"You coming in or what?"

Tori dropped onto the concrete beside her, water dripping from her hair onto Maya's thigh. She'd been Maya's friend since seventh grade, back when friendship bracelets were still cool and they'd pinky-promised to stay tight forever. But lately something felt off. Like Tori was running toward popularity and Maya was still standing at the start line, watching her friend's retreating back.

"Maybe," Maya said. "In a bit."

Tori rolled her eyes. "You've been saying that since we got here. C'mon, live a little."

Before Maya could respond, Jake appeared – tall, annoyingly gorgeous Jake, who everyone was basically obsessed with this month. He held up his phone, camera pointed right at them.

"Truth or dare? We're filming for TikTok."

Maya's stomach did that thing it did whenever she was put on the spot. "Hard pass."

"Come on, don't be boring," Tori said, and something about her tone made Maya's chest tighten.

"Fine," Maya heard herself say. "Truth."

Jake grinned. "Okay, here's the thing – who here is secretly jealous of someone else in this circle?"

Silence. The camera kept recording. The pool reflected shimmering light patterns on everyone's faces.

Tori laughed too loudly. "What? No one. That's dumb."

Maya looked at her friend – really looked at her. Saw the tiny crack in the confidence. The way Tori's eyes kept darting toward the popular girls across the pool.

"I am," Maya said quietly. "I'm jealous of Tori."

Tori froze. "What? Why?"

"Because you're brave enough to just go after what you want," Maya said, and realized as she said it that it was true. "You don't overthink everything. You don't let fear stop you from jumping in."

The pool went quiet. Even Jake lowered his phone.

Tori's expression softened. "Maya, I'm not brave. I literally practiced laughing in my mirror for twenty minutes this morning so I'd sound chill."

Maya blinked. Then she was laughing – really laughing, surprised and relieved and suddenly light. "Wait, seriously?"

"Dead serious," Tori said, grinning now. "You're the one who's actually cool. You don't have to try."

Jake groaned. "This is so not going viral."

Maya stood up, grabbed Tori's hand, and they jumped in together, fully clothed, screaming as the cold water swallowed them whole. Sometimes you just had to stop overthinking and dive. The night had only just started.