Stakeout at the Dugout

Maya crouched behind the bleachers, phone clutched in her sweaty palm. This was it. Operation Get-With-Cassidy was a go.

"You look like a total creep," whispered Sofia, her best friend since seventh grade. "No offense."

"I'm not a creep," Maya hissed. "I'm conducting reconnaissance. There's a difference."

"You're literally spying on Cassidy at baseball practice. That is the definition of creepy behavior."

Maya adjusted herVarsity jacket— Cassidy's Varsity jacket, which she'd "borrowed" yesterday and forgotten to return. Not that she was complaining. The smell of his cologne still lingered in the fabric, cedar and something distinctly... him. Being the only sophomore on the baseball team, Cassidy was basically the school's golden boy. And Maya had been mega-crushing on him since forever.

A stray calico cat materialized from nowhere, weaving between Maya's legs and letting out a demanding MEOW.

"Shh!" Maya whisper-screamed. "You're gonna blow my cover!"

The cat sat. She stared.

"Fine," Sofia sighed. "We're doing this. We're cat-whispering now. This is fine."

Practice ended. Players filtered out of the dugout, laughing and shoving each other. Cassidy walked past— alone. Maya's heart did that thing where it forgot how to heart. This was her moment. She stood up, jacket in hand, ready to casually return it like it was no big deal, just a jacket, just a normal human interaction between two normal humans—

The cat chose that exact moment to sprint full-speed toward Cassidy, tail poofed like a bottle brush.

"WHOAH—" Cassidy stumbled backward as the cat launched herself at his legs, attaching like a furry koala.

Maya froze.

Cassidy looked up. Their eyes met.

"Is that... your cat?" he asked, totally confused, trying to gently detatch claws from his baseball pants.

"NO," Maya said, weirdly loud. "I mean— yes? Kind of? I've been feeding her? Behind the bleachers? Because I'm nice?"

Smooth. So smooth. Maya wanted to die.

But then Cassidy laughed— actually laughed, not the polite haha kind. He scooped up the cat, who immediately started purring like a chainsaw.

"She's chill," he said. "What's her name?"

"... Spynx," Maya said without thinking. "Because she's always watching."

"Spynx," Cassidy repeated, grinning. "I dig it. Hey, isn't that my jacket?"

Maya's face burned. "Oh yeah. Sorry. I forgot."

"Keep it," he said, scratching Spynx behind the ears. "It looks better on you anyway."

Sofia's mouth dropped open.

Maya's brain short-circuited.

Cassidy set down the cat, winked at Maya, and walked toward the parking lot. The cat trotted back to Maya's feet, looking smug.

"Did that just happen?" Sofia asked, breathless.

Maya looked down at the jacket she was still wearing. At the cat winding around her ankles. At the place where Cassidy had disappeared, like some kind of magic trick.

"I think," Maya said, "we just got played by a cat."

"Best spy ever," Sofia declared.

And okay, maybe being a spy wasn't the worst thing in the world. Sometimes being a little creepy was worth it.