Palm Readings at the Pool Party

Maya's palms were sweating. Literally. She wiped them on her shorts for the third time, staring at the inflatable **pool** in Jenna's backyard where half the sophomore class was currently splashing around like overexcited golden retrievers.

"You coming in or what?" called Riley, her best **friend** since seventh grade, doing a cannonball off the diving board. Maya shook her head, forcing a smile. She'd been dodging the water all afternoon—her new swimsuit was from Target, not one of those cute Instagram brands everyone else wore, and she wasn't trying to have a meltdown in front of the popular crowd.

Instead, she'd somehow gotten roped into doing fake **palm** readings. Because apparently one time at sleepaway camp she'd guessed a counselor's "love line" correctly, and now she was basically a psychic. The line of desperate teenagers waiting for their turn was, quite frankly, ridiculous.

"So, what do you see?" asked Tyler, the ridiculously hot junior who'd never spoken to her before. He extended his hand, all confident and golden-brown from whatever sports he played. Maya took it, trying to look mystical instead of panicking.

"Uh... you're going to bear great responsibility," she improvised, tracing a line that definitely didn't mean anything. "Like, really soon."

He nodded solemnly. "That's actually deep."

Maya resisted the urge to roll her own eyes. This was the most absurd thing she'd ever done, and yet everyone was eating it up.

Then she heard it—the strangest sound, like a dying squeak toy. She looked up to see Jenna's neighbor's prize-winning Sphinx **cat** (yes, the hairless kind, yes it looked like a naked mole rat) waddling toward the pool with apparent murder in its weird little eyes.

"Wait—" Maya started, but it was too late. The cat launched itself at Tyler's back, claws out, sending him sprawling directly into the water with a splash that drenched half the party. Chaos erupted. People were screaming. The cat was remarkably pleased with itself.

Riley emerged from the pool, hair plastered to her face, and locked eyes with Maya. They both lost it. Like, actually lost it, cackling so hard they could barely breathe while Tyler sputtered and tried to maintain whatever dignity he had left.

"You predicted this," Riley gasped. "You said he'd bear great responsibility. You meant for the MURDER CAT."

"I'm basically a prophet," Maya agreed, finally letting herself laugh until her sides hurt. She wasn't thinking about her Target swimsuit anymore. She was just glad to be exactly where she was, in all its ridiculous, unexpected glory.