Chasing Summer's End

Mateo's sneakers squeaked against the padel court—three sizes too big, hand-me-downs from his cousin that made him feel like a clumsy puppet. The ball zipped past his racket again.

"My bad," he muttered, while Chloe and her perfectly coordinated friends barely suppressed giggles. Their outfits probably cost more than his mom's monthly paycheck.

His phone buzzed. MOM: PICK UP LEO. The family dog had escaped again. Great.

"Gotta bounce," Mateo said, already turning toward the exit.

"Wait!" Chloe jogged after him, all sudden sincerity. "Everyone's hitting the pool after. You should come."

Mateo almost laughed. Like he'd willingly display his scrawny, patchy-tanned body next to these country-club kids who probably grew up swimming in something fancier than public pools.

He was running down the driveway when he spotted him—Leo, tail between his legs, eyeing the club's perfectly manicured gardens like they were alien territory. The dog bolted toward—of course—the pool area.

"Leo, STOP!" Mateo chased after him, lungs already screaming, heart pounding in that way it always did when he felt like an imposter. Which was constantly.

He found Leo standing poolside, while everyone stared. The rich kids. The ones whose lives seemed effortless in a way Mateo's would never be. Chloe, still in her pristine white skirt, freezing like she'd encountered a wild animal instead of his elderly, arthritic retriever mix.

Mateo scooped up Leo, prepared for the mockery. The jokes about his raggedy dog, his everything.

Instead, Chloe dropped to her knees. "Oh my god, can I pet him?"

"Uh, yeah. He's chill."

She buried her hands in Leo's fur, and for once, she wasn't performing for an audience. "I've wanted a dog forever. My parents say they're too messy."

Mateo looked at the pool, at the expensive phones on lounge chairs, at the sudden vulnerability in her posture. The surface tension of the whole summer shimmered around them—everyone pretending, everyone playing roles.

"He's kinda messy," Mateo admitted. "He chewed up my history project last week."

Chloe laughed, and it wasn't mean. "Wanna sit with us?"

For the first time all summer, Mateo didn't feel like running away from himself.