The Cat Who Saw Everything

Maya's reflection in the bathroom mirror showed green-speckled teeth.

"Are you kidding me?" she groaned, scrubbing furiously at the spinach stuck between her front incisors. Her mom's latest health phase meant green smoothies for breakfast, lunch, and probably dinner if Maya didn't intervene. Freshman year was hard enough without walking around looking like she'd been eating lawn clippings.

She heard scratching at the window. Barnaby—the neighbor's cat—was back. The orange tabby had been showing up every day since school started, like he was her personal emotional support animal or something. Maya pushed the window open and he hopped onto her desk, knocking over her carefully arranged口红 collection.

"Dude, not cool." Barnaby blinked slowly, totally unimpressed with her teen angst.

Her phone buzzed. Group chat explosion.

alexa_b: PARTY AT TYLER'S TONIGHT

jess.m: U GOING??

Maya stared at the screen. Tyler. The Tyler. Junior varsity basketball captain, hair that defied gravity, and the kind of smile that made girls forget their own names. Maya had exactly zero chances with him, but maybe... maybe tonight could be different.

She rifled through her closet. Everything looked wrong. Too childish, too trying-too-hard, too I-don't-know-who-I-am-yet. Until she found it: her sister's old orange hoodie from when she went through that Ohio State phase. It was oversized, covered in paint stains, and practically radiated main character energy.

Perfect.

Three hours later, Maya stood in Tyler's crowded basement, nursing a fruit punch that was probably 90% sugar. She'd managed to talk to exactly zero people. The spinach smoothie was giving her weird burps. She was about to bail when a voice beside her said, "Love the hoodie."

Maya turned. Tyler. Actual Tyler. Up close. Smiling.

"Oh. Thanks." Maya's brain short-circuited. "It's vintage."

"Nice." He leaned against the wall. "I'm Tyler, by the way."

"Maya."

"Cool name." He paused. "You look like you're plotting something."

"What? No. I'm just... thinking."

"About?"

Maya glanced around the room. All these people, all these expectations, everyone trying so hard to be someone they weren't. She thought about Barnaby waiting at her window, completely unbothered by social hierarchies and orange hoodies and spinach teeth.

"Just thinking about my cat," she said. "He's got the right idea. Shows up when he wants, leaves when he wants, eats when he wants. No drama."

Tyler laughed. Actual laughed. "Wait, you have a cat?"

"Technically he's my neighbor's cat. But we have an understanding."

"An understanding." Tyler was grinning now. "Maya, you're weird. But like, in a good way."

"I'll take it."

"Hey," he said, "my band's practicing tomorrow. You should come. Bring your cat's wisdom."

Maya walked home with bubbles in her chest that had nothing to do with spinach smoothies. Barnaby was waiting at her window, orange coat glowing in the streetlight.

"You're not gonna believe this," she whispered, pushing the window open. He jumped onto her desk and immediately knocked over her hand cream.

"Yeah, yeah. You saw it all first." Maya curled up in her orange hoodie, phone in hand. A new message from an unknown number lit up the screen.

tyler_b: Band practice @ 3. Don't be late.

Maya smiled, green-speckled teeth and all. Tomorrow, she'd definitely brush after breakfast. But tonight? Tonight was for being exactly who she was, spinach incidents and all.