Undercover at the Pool

Lily adjusted the beat-up **baseball** cap, pulling the brim low over her eyes. If anyone asked, she'd claim it was sun protection. Truth was, she was on a mission—and she refused to get caught.

"You're literally the worst **spy** ever," Maya had laughed when assigning her the task. "Just watch Jake's swim practice and report back. Does he still have that girlfriend?"

Now Lily sat at the community pool, legs dangling in the water, pretending to scroll through her phone while stealing glances at the lap lanes. Jake sliced through the water with practiced ease, and yeah, okay, Maya wasn't wrong about him being cute. Not that Lily would ever admit it. She and Maya had been operating like this since seventh grade—gathering intel, trading secrets, analyzing every interaction like their social lives depended on it.

"You're gonna fry," a voice said.

Lily jumped, nearly dropping her phone. Jake stood there, water dripping from his hair, shirtless and way too close. Her face burned hotter than the sun.

"I'm good," she managed, yanking her **hat** down further.

He grinned. "Nice cap."

"Thanks."

"You gonna **swim** or just supervising?"

"Supervising," she said automatically, then winced. Since when did she care if she looked uncool in front of some guy she barely knew?

Jake shrugged like it was nothing. "Cool. Mind if I sit?"

They talked for twenty minutes. About swim meets, his annoying little brother, how much they both hated school projects. Somewhere along the line, Lily's hat ended up on the concrete beside them, and she forgot to feel self-conscious about the scar on her shoulder from surgery last year.

"You should come to the bonfire tonight," Jake said as his coach called him back to practice. "Unless you have more... supervising to do?"

He'd known. The whole time.

Lily's phone buzzed—Maya demanding updates. She typed back: *Guy's a total **bear**. Talk to you later.*

Then she put the phone away, grabbed her hat, and realized she didn't want to be anybody's spy anymore. Some stories were better lived than reported.