Fox at the Pool Party

The air around the pool was thick with humidity and expectations. I stood there in my Fox Racing hoodie—thank god I'd chickened out of actually swimming—sweaty palms pressed against my phone in my pocket.

"Yo Marcus, you gonna just stand there or what?" Tyler called from the deep end, splashing water everywhere. He was that guy. The one who made everything look easy, while I was overanalyzing every micro-movement.

I forced a laugh. "Just chilling, man."

Across the pool, Maya was leaning against a palm tree, laughing at something Tyler said. My stomach did that thing where it feels like it's trying to escape through your throat. She was wearing this vintage band tee that I'd complimented once in homeroom, back when I still had something resembling courage.

Then I saw it.

A fox.

An actual, literal fox trotted out from the bushes behind the pool fence, looking completely unbothered by the dozen screaming teenagers. It was just standing there, orange fur glowing in the sunset, watching us like we were the weirdest thing it had ever seen.

"Yo, is that..." someone started.

"A fox?" Maya finished, her eyes lighting up. "That's actually sick."

The fox padded along the pool's edge, paused to look at Tyler doing a cannonball, and I swear it rolled its eyes before continuing its patrol. Like it was evaluating us and finding us wanting.

Maya walked over to where I was standing, not even noticing she was getting closer. "Think it's here for the party?" she joked.

My palms were sweating so hard I was surprised my phone didn't slip right out of my pocket. "Yeah, probably heard Tyler's been looking for a new hype man."

She laughed—not the polite kind, the real kind. The fox stopped walking and looked straight at us, like it was waiting for me to say something not idiotic for once.

"Hey," Maya said, "you wanna go see if it'll let us get closer? Like, from outside the fence and stuff?"

"Yeah," I heard myself say. "Yeah, let's do that."

The fox disappeared into the bushes as we approached the fence. But somehow, that didn't even matter.