Paws Deep End

Maya's summer was officially mid. Her crush Ethan had invited her to his pool party, but she'd spent the entire time obsessing over her hair and avoiding eye contact. Now, sitting on a patio chair watching everyone else splash around in the deep end, she felt like the ultimate background character.

That's when Barnaby happened.

Barnaby was her aunt's golden retriever, a chaos demon in fur form who she was dogsitting for the weekend. She'd tethered him to a fence post, but apparently "escape artist" was not listed in his Petfinder profile.

The dog shot toward the party like a furry missile, dragging his leash behind him. Maya bolted after him, but Barnaby had locked onto his target: a sleek black cat perched elegantly on the diving board, watching the humans with judgy eyes.

"Barnaby, NO!"

The cat, whose name Maya would later learn was Onyx, had the reflexes of a ninja. As the dog launched himself at the diving board, Onyx leaped gracefully into the pool, landing with barely a splash. Barnaby followed, gravity and enthusiasm winning over common sense.

Maya didn't think. She didn't consider her hair, her outfit, or the social suicide of diving into a pool fully clothed. She just jumped.

The water shocked her senses. She surfaced sputtering to find both animals paddling confidently — Onyx glowering at everyone, Barnaby looking pleased with himself. Maya grabbed the dog's collar and herded both pets toward the edge, where Ethan was already kneeling to help.

"That was... legendary," he said, grinning as he pulled the cat onto the deck. "Who knew you were such a badass?"

Maya's hair was ruined. Her favorite dress was soaked. But as she dragged a very unrepentant Barnaby from the pool, she realized something: background characters don't jump into the deep end to save cats from dogs.

"Just living my best life," Maya said, shaking water from her hair like a dog herself.

Ethan laughed. "Same."

Maybe summer wasn't so mid after all.