Fox Fire at Midnight

The pool was illegal. That's what made it perfect.\n\nI hadn't talked to Maya since she got popular, since the girls with perfect hair and expensive sneakers claimed her. But tonight she'd texted: pool. midnight. come alone.\n\nSo there I was, sneaking through Mrs. Henderson's backyard like some kind of spy, heart doing that weird fluttery thing it always did when Maya was involved. The fence creaked and I froze, but Maya was already in the water, floating on her back like she didn't have a care in the world.\n\n\"You came,\" she said, treading water. Her voice echoed off the concrete.\n\n\"Obviously.\" I dropped my towel on the lounge chair. \"I'm not missing the chance to get arrested with the most popular girl in school.\"\n\nShe laughed, but it was different from the laugh I remembered—less genuine, more practiced. That's when it hit me: I didn't know her anymore. I'd been watching her from a distance like she was a stranger, collecting information about her new life without actually being part of it. Some friend I was.\n\nI slid into the water and the shock of cold snapped me out of my head. We swam in silence for a while, just breathing, just existing. The pool lights were off, but the moon reflected off the surface like spilled milk.\n\n\"I miss this,\" Maya said suddenly. \"Being us. Before everything got weird.\"\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\nThen something moved near the fence—a rust-orange flash, ears pointed and alert. A fox, watching us with eyes like polished amber. It stood there for three seconds, like it was judging our entire existence, before vanishing into the night.\n\n\"Did you see that?\" Maya whispered.\n\n\"Yeah.\" I treaded water closer to her. \"Best night ever.\"\n\n\"I'm sorry,\" she said. \"For not being a better friend.\"\n\n\"I'm sorry too.\"\n\nWe stayed in the pool until our fingers turned pruney, until the sky started that gradient thing it does before dawn. Two girls in a stolen pool, watched by a fox, finally being real with each other again.\n\n\"Same time next week?\" she asked as we climbed out.\n\n\"Obviously.\"\n\nMaya smiled—her real smile this time.