Collars and Chaos

Maya's mom had dropped off the gummy vitamins at noon, exactly two hours before she was supposed to be at Jordan's party. "They'll help your skin," she'd said, but Maya knew they were really about her mom wanting her to be the kind of daughter who glowed.

The housesitting gig was supposed to be easy cash—feed the cat, walk the dog, don't burn down the house. But when the cat knocked over the vitamin bottle and the dog ate half of them, Maya's afternoon spiraled into pure chaos.

She tried calling her aunt, but no answer. So she did what any fifteen-year-old would do: she grabbed the leash, scooped up the cat, and made a break for it. The vet was only three blocks away.

Except the dog saw a squirrel and bolted. The cat hissed and launched herself out of Maya's arms. And somehow, in the middle of this disaster, her phone buzzed.

*Hey, coming to the party?* It was Jordan, asking as if everything wasn't falling apart.

Maya chased the cat behind a dumpster and found both animals cornered by a guy from her biology class. His name was something with a C? Cameron? Carlos?

"Need help?" he asked, like this was totally normal.

They spent twenty minutes coordinating like they'd known each other forever. He distracted the cat while she grabbed the dog, then vice versa. By the time they made it to the vet, Maya was sweating through her favorite crop top.

"My aunt's cat ate like twenty vitamins," Maya told the receptionist, feeling like the worst person alive.

The guy—whose name was Caleb—laughed. "Dude, that's iconic."

They sat in the waiting room while the vet checked the animals. Caleb talked about his cat's obsession with eating hair ties, and Maya confessed she'd only agreed to watch the pets so she could afford new sneakers for Jordan's party.

"Those parties are mid anyway," Caleb said. "Last time I went, someone put glitter in the aquarium filter."

Maya's phone buzzed again. Jordan, asking if she was still coming. She looked at Caleb, who was somehow making her laugh harder than she had all month.

"Nah," she texted back. "Something came up."

"Good," Caleb said, reading over her shoulder like it wasn't weird at all. "Because we still need to figure out how to explain this to your aunt."

The vet came out with both pets in carriers, totally fine. The cat was apparently unbothered, and the dog had just thrown up some orange gummy stuff and was now living her best life.

"They're good," the vet said. "But maybe keep the vitamins on a higher shelf next time."

Caleb walked her back to the house, and somewhere between the vitamin explosion and the pet chaos, Maya realized her sneakers were perfectly fine. So was she, with or without the glow-up.

"Same time tomorrow?" she asked as they reached the doorstep.

Caleb grinned. "If your cat's still hungry for vitamins, definitely."

Maya's mom called that night to ask if she took her vitamins. "Nah," Maya said, watching Caleb's text pop up on her screen. "I think I'm good without them."