The Dog Who Saved Friday Night

Maya stood by the snack table, nursing a plastic cup of warm water, feeling like a total zombie. Three hours of Tyler's house party and she'd managed exactly zero conversations that didn't involve awkward nodding. Everyone else seemed to know some secret social playbook she'd missed out on.

"You look like you're dying," said a guy she recognized from AP Bio. He had that cute-but-definitely-knows-it vibe.

"Just conserving energy," she shot back. Smooth, Maya. Real smooth.

He laughed, though. "I'm Leo. Your dog just ate all the cheddar popcorn."

Maya followed his gaze to the corner where Buster — her golden retriever, who she'd somehow let her mom talk her into bringing because "he loves people" — was absolutely decimating a bowl of snacks. A group of girls was literally taking selfies with him.

"Oh my GOD." Maya rushed over, but when she tried to grab Buster's collar, he danced away like it was a game. The entire room was watching now. Great. This was it. The peak of her social embarrassment.

But then Leo started laughing. Actually laughing. And somehow that broke the tension, because other people started laughing too, and suddenly this wasn't mortifying anymore — it was just... funny.

"Your dog is a legend," someone called out.

"He's banned from every party in town now," Maya said, finally catching Buster. His tail was thumping like crazy, popcorn crumbs all over his face. "He's living his best life, honestly."

Leo helped her clean up the mess, and they ended up talking about everything from how weird high school was to that time they'd both tried to be vegan for exactly three days. For the first time all night, Maya didn't feel like a zombie anymore. She was just a girl with a chaotic dog, talking to a cute boy who thought that was kind of awesome.

Maybe parties weren't so bad after all — or maybe she just needed a golden retriever to break the ice first.