Cable-Knit Confidence

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her oversized cable-knit sweater around her like a shield. It was ninety degrees and she was absolutely roasting, but the sweater stayed on—a literal and metaphorical barrier between her and everyone else at Tyler's end-of-summer blowout.

'You coming in or what?' someone called. Maya's face burned. She'd been standing there for twenty minutes, pretending to check her phone, calculating exactly how long she needed to stay before leaving without looking like a total flop.

Then—chaos.

A golden retriever came barreling through the side gate, tongue lolling, ears flopping, pure joy incarnate. The dog made a beeline for the snack table, sending chips flying everywhere. Everyone scattered, shrieking and laughing.

Except Maya didn't scatter. She stepped forward, grabbing the dog's collar before he could launch himself into the pool.

'Gotcha, buddy,' she murmured, automatically scratching behind his ears. The dog leaned into her touch, tail thumping happily against her leg.

'That's Buster!' A girl sprinted over, breathless. 'Oh my god, I'm so sorry—'

'It's okay,' Maya said, and weirdly, it actually was. 'He's super cute.'

The girl—Riley, apparently—grinned. 'He's a menace. I'm Riley, by the way. Maya, right? We have English together.'

Maya nodded, surprised Riley knew her name. 'Yeah. Hi.'

'You're, like, the only person here who didn't freak out,' Riley said, impressed. 'That's kinda badass.'

Buster chose that moment to shake himself vigorously, splashing water all over both of them. Maya gasped as cold water hit her face. Riley started laughing, and before she could stop herself, Maya was laughing too.

'Well,' Maya said, peeling off her soaked sweater. 'I guess I'm going in now.'

She jumped into the pool fully clothed, and for the first time all night, she didn't feel like the weird girl standing on the edges. Sometimes it took a chaotic dog, a completely unexpected moment, and a little bit of water to realize you'd been ready to dive in all along.