The Fox at the Pool Party

Maya pulled her bucket hat lower, practically disappearing into its shadow. This was stupid. Why had she agreed to come to Tyler's pool party when she could've been doomscrolling in the safety of her bedroom?

"Yo, Maya! You gonna swim or what?" Tyler called from where he was—of course—holding court at the shallow end. Because Tyler James held court everywhere.

"Maybe later," she mumbled, fingers picking at the loose thread on her denim shorts. The pool glittered like something from a music video, all turquoise water and laughing bodies, while she sat on the edge like someone's forgotten goldfish—present but totally not part of the action.

Then she saw it. A fox. An actual fox, trotting along the wooden fence like it owned the place.

"Y'all, there is literally a fox in the backyard," Maya said, maybe a little too loud.

"That's random," someone said. But nobody looked. Too busy being cool.

The fox stopped. Looked right at her with amber eyes that said, *I see you.* Then it hopped down and started—no joke—running toward the pool.

Maya didn't think. She just moved, sprinting across the deck, yelling, "HEY!" And then she was IN the pool, fully clothed, hat flying somewhere behind her, because the fox had skidded to a stop at the water's edge and this was the weirdest moment of her life and also somehow not the worst?

She surfaced to silence. Everyone staring.

Then Tyler started laughing. Not mean-laughing. Real laughing. "Did you just body-block a fox?"

The fox sat by the pool, looking confused. Maya's hat floated nearby like a defeated flower.

"Um," Maya said. And then everyone was laughing, someone passed her a towel, and someone else said, "That was actually kind of legendary," and somehow standing there dripping wet in front of the cutest boy in tenth grade with a wild fox watching from the sidelines, Maya finally felt like she wasn't watching her own life from the sidelines anymore.

The fox dipped its head, almost like a bow, then disappeared back toward the fence.

"Wait," Maya called out. But it was gone.

"That fox was giving main character energy," Tyler said, splashing water at her.

Maya smiled, actually smiled, and realized she'd left her goldfish-self behind somewhere between the fence and the water.