Swimming with the Bull

The heat wave had everyone at Lake Meritt acting crazy, but Maya had bigger problems than sweating through her favorite crop top. She'd finally been invited to Jake's party—the party—and her best friend Kai was threatening to flake because he'd rather stay home playing video games.

'Maya, I'm not good at that stuff,' Kai said, kicking a pebble into the water. 'You know I freeze up around people.' They'd been sneaking onto the lake's private beach since middle school, the one spot where Kai didn't have to perform.

Maya's cat, Luna, chose that moment to burst from the bushes, yowling like she'd seen a ghost. A massive bull—some farmer's escaped livestock—stood at the treeline, staring them down.

'Nope,' Maya said, backing toward the lake. 'We are not doing this today.' But the bull took a step forward, and suddenly they were both swimming toward the raft, clothes and all.

They clung to the raft's edge, shivering and cracking up as the bull lost interest and wandered off. 'See?' Kai laughed, water dripping from his hair. 'You don't have to be cool all the time. Sometimes you just gotta jump in the water with your clothes on.'

Her phone buzzed in her waterproof pouch—Jake, asking where she was. Something clicked. Why was she so desperate to impress someone who made her feel small? Kai had always been there, even when she was being terrible. The real party was right here, with the person who'd jump into a lake with her to escape a literal angry bull.

'Let's skip Jake's,' Maya said. 'Let's get pizza and harass Luna until she forgives us for leaving her.' Kai's relieved grin said everything. Some friendships were worth way more than being popular. And honestly? Swimming with jeans on wasn't the worst thing in the world.