Summer of Sweet and Sour

Maya's palms were sweating so bad she could practically irrigate a small garden. This was it—her first real high school party, and she was currently hiding behind a giant cooler like a total coward.

"Yo Maya, you gonna lurk by the chips all night or actually live a little?" Jordan appeared, grinning like he knew exactly how socially awkward she was feeling. He held out a wedge of fruit. "Try this. It's papaya. Exotic vibes, right?"

Maya took it, mostly to make her hands stop shaking so visibly. "I'm not lurking. I'm... strategically positioning myself."

"Mmhmm." Jordan's golden retriever, Buster, chose that moment to bound over and knock into Maya's legs, sending papaya juice everywhere. "Great. Now I smell like a tropical smoothie."

"That's the look, honestly." Jordan nudged her. "Come on. Alex is by the baseball diamond. You've been staring at him all week like he's a rare species or something."

Maya's face burned. "I have not."

"You so have. He's not that deep, Maya. He's just a guy who plays baseball and thinks he's mysterious because he listens to vinyl."

"You don't know that's what he thinks!"

"I literally heard him say it yesterday in AP English. 'I only listen to vinyl, digital lacks soul.' Like, okay calm down, it's just music formats, not a personality trait." Jordan rolled his eyes so hard Maya laughed despite her nerves.

A commotion erupted near the fence. Someone shouted, "There's a fox!"

The whole party shifted, phones out, everyone trying to spot the creature that had somehow wandered into this suburban subdivision. Alex moved through the crowd, and Maya caught his eye for exactly one second before looking away, heart hammering.

"You're overthinking this," Jordan said quietly. "Just go say hi. Worst case, he's awkward about it. Best case, you have someone to split an Uber with next time we sneak out."

Maya took a breath. Her palms were still sweaty, she still had papaya juice on her shirt, and the fox sighting had turned the whole party into chaos. But Jordan was right. She wasn't going to get anywhere by strategically positioning herself behind coolers forever.

She squared her shoulders. "Fine. But if he starts talking about vinyl, I'm out."

"Deal." Jordan grinned. "Now go be brave, you fox."