Poolside Panic Attack

Maya's legs burned as she kept running, pavement blurring beneath her sneakers. 2:47 AM. Her phone buzzed again in her pocket — probably the group chat blowing up about Jordan's pool party tomorrow. The one everyone was going to. The one where somehow everyone would look amazing in swimsuits except her.

She slowed to a walk, chest heaving, and plopped down on a curb. That's when she saw it — a scrawny calico cat, tail twitching, watching her from behind a dumpster. Maya held out her hand. The cat inched closer, then bonked its head against her palm like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"You don't care what anyone thinks, do you?" she whispered.

The cat purred, unbothered.

Maya's phone lit up. Daphne: "u coming tomorrow?? it's gonna be litttt"

Her thumbs hovered over the keyboard. She'd spent all week stress-eating and overthinking and basically spiraling. But suddenly, none of that mattered. The cat curled up next to her like a tiny, judgment-free zone.

"Yeah," Maya typed back. "I'll be there."

The pool party turned out to be... fine. Not amazing, not terrible. Just kids being awkward and loud and mostly normal. Maya wore her one-piece with the weird pattern she'd been hiding in her drawer for months. Nobody stared. Nobody whispered. Mostly everyone just screamed when someone did a cannonball off the diving board.

She ended up in the deep end talking to Alex, who'd brought their ukulele and was absolutely shredding some Disney song everyone secretly loved. They laughed so hard they choked on pool water.

Later, Maya scrolled through the photos. There she was, hair plastered to her face, making the most unflattering expression, but she was actually... happy? Like, for real happy, not the fake Instagram kind.

She thought about that cat. How it just existed without apologizing for itself. How it leaned into the good stuff (head scratches) and dipped when things got weird.

"Goals," Maya muttered, saving the photo.

Her phone buzzed again. Alex: "pool next week?? same time??"

"Bet," Maya typed back, already planning her pre-party run route. The cat was probably somewhere out there, being unapologetically itself. Might as well join it.