Catfish, Padel, and Other Small Disasters

Maya's iPhone vibrated against her thigh — the group chat was blowing up about Jackson's pool party. His parents had that fancy padel court in the backyard, the one everyone whispered about because apparently it cost more than Maya's entire college fund.

"You coming?" Liam texted. "Jackson literally just asked about you."

Maya stared at her ceiling. She couldn't swim. Like, at all. The last time she'd been in water deeper than a bathtub, she'd clung to her cousin like a koala while he laughed at her "aggressive doggy-paddling situation."

But this was Jackson. Jackson with the smile that made her stomach feel like it was hosting a gymnastics competition. Jackson who'd somehow become friends with everyone cool in tenth grade while she was still figuring out which angle made her hair look less like a birds' nest.

"Yeah," she typed back. "Wouldn't miss it."

Famous last words.

Three hours later, Maya stood by Jackson's pool in a swimsuit that felt entirely too bright while people played padel on the fancy court like they'd been born with rackets in their hands. She clutching her iPhone like it was a lifeline, scrolling through absolutely nothing just to look busy.

"Maya!" Jackson waved from the water. "Get in here!"

"In a minute!" she called back, praying her voice didn't squeak.

Then his sister's cat — a calico named Pickles who had been judging everyone from the lounge chair — chose that exact moment to make a break for it. Pickles went full chaos mode, tearing through the crowd and straight toward the pool edge.

"Pickles, NO!" Jackson screamed.

Maya's body moved before her brain could process what a terrible idea this was. She lunged for the cat, momentum carried her forward, and suddenly she was underwater.

It wasn't graceful. It definitely wasn't swimming. It was more like an enthusiastic drowning.

But she caught Pickles.

Maya burst to the surface, gasping, holding a very unamused wet cat against her chest while water dripped from everywhere. The entire party had gone silent.

Then Jackson started laughing. Not mean laughing — the real kind, where he had to cover his face because he was wheezing so hard.

"Did you just —" he gasped — "dive bomb for my cat?"

"Your cat was gonna do a Titanic," Maya said, wiping water from her eyes. Pickles wriggled free and swam confidently to the edge, because apparently cats were just better at everything.

"That was honestly the most heroic thing I've ever seen," Jackson said, grinning. "Also terrible. Really terrible. But heroic."

"I can't swim," Maya admitted, feeling her face heat up. "I was fully just thrashing with purpose."

"Clearly." Jackson swam over. "Wanna learn? Like, properly? I can teach you."

Her iPhone was probably dead in her pocket. Her hair was absolutely wrecked. Pickles was currently shaking water all over Jackson's expensive padel court.

"Yeah," Maya said, and she wasn't thinking about how uncool she looked anymore. "Yeah, I'd like that."