Operation Splash Zone

Maya crouched behind the cracked plastic slide, Cooper's golden retriever snout nuzzling her elbow. The forty-pound traitor was gonna blow her cover.

"Cooper, chill," she whispered, shoving a Goldfish cracker toward him. "We are on a mission."

Cooper accepted the bribe, tail thwacking against the wooden fence. From here, Maya had a perfect view of the Davies' backyard, where Liam—the cute baseball player from third period—sat on his back porch, phone in hand. For three weeks, Maya had been convinced he was a spy. Who else spent that much time on their phone, constantly glancing around, always looking suspicious?

Okay, so maybe she'd been reading too many spy novels. And maybe this was technically stalking.

But then came the incident at the community pool last Friday.

Maya had been minding her own business, pretending to read while stealing glances at Liam's ridiculously defined arms as he joked with friends near the snack bar. Cooper, who'd somehow slipped his leash, went full chaos demon—barreling straight toward the group and launching himself into the air, sending a tray of sodas flying everywhere.

"Cooper!" Maya had shouted, scrambling up from her lounge chair.

Liam had laughed. Actually laughed, water dripping from his chin, as he helped corral her psycho dog. "Yours?"

"Unfortunately," she'd muttered, face burning.

He'd grinned, and Maya's stomach had done that stupid flutter thing. "He's awesome. What's his name?"

Now, watching him through the fence slats, Maya's phone buzzed. A text from her sister:*since when do you stalk the neighbors?*

Maya froze. Then slowly turned around.

Her sister stood at their back door, smirking, phone in hand. Behind her, their mom waved cheerfully.

"Maya!" her mom called. "Liam invited us over for dinner! His mom said you met at the pool?"

Through the fence, she watched Liam stand up and walk toward the gate, Cooper already trotting toward him with zero loyalty.

"Hey," Liam said, pushing open the fence door, Cooper immediately flopping at his feet. "My mom mentioned you like baseball?"

Maya's brain short-circuited. "What?"

"You wear that jersey to school every Tuesday," he said, almost shy. "I play for the travel team. We could use another player. If you're interested."

Cooper chose that moment to shake vigorously, spraying water all over both of them.

Liam laughed again, and Maya realized something that made her whole face heat up: she wasn't the only one who'd been watching.