The Fox by the Pool

Maya stood at the edge of the **pool**, clutching her **iPhone** like a lifeline. The water shimmered with that artificial blue glow that made everything look filtered even in real life. Everyone was either in the water or clustered in groups, laughing, their faces illuminated by the same blue light she was addicted to. She scrolled through Instagram, watching other people live their best lives while she stood here, paralyzed by the kind of social anxiety that felt like drowning in shallow water.

Then she saw it—a **fox** at the far end of the yard, near the fence. It was impossibly orange against the backdrop of manicured suburbia, watching the party with what looked suspiciously like judgment. Maya stopped scrolling. The fox was beautiful and wild and completely out of place, just like she felt.

"You see it too?"

Maya jumped. Liam stood next to her, wet hair dripping, holding his phone like he'd been about to take a picture. The Liam she'd been crushing on since September, who'd somehow become even more unapproachable since high school started.

"The fox," she said, grateful her voice didn't shake. "Yeah."

He lowered his phone. "It's been coming to my fence line for weeks. My mom says it's probably someone's pet that got loose, but I think it's wild." He paused. "I'm kinda glad someone else saw it. I was starting to think I was making it up."

**Lightning** split the sky—a flash so bright it turned everything white for a heartbeat. Then thunder, shaking the ground. Someone screamed. The fox vanished.

"Storm's coming fast," Liam said. "We should probably..."

But before either of them could move, the sky opened. Rain sheeted down, sudden and torrential. Everyone scrambled for the house. Maya and Liam stood there, getting soaked, neither moving toward the patio doors.

"You're not going in?" she asked.

He grinned, water plastering his hair to his forehead. "Are you kidding? This is the best part. The best parties always end with everyone running from something."

Maya looked at her phone, dark now in the rain. She looked at Liam, at the empty pool rippling with raindrops, at the empty fence line where the fox had been. Something loosened in her chest—the same anxiety she'd carried all night, suddenly lighter.

"You know what?" she said, and put her phone in her pocket. "Me neither."

They stood in the rain as the storm rolled over, and for the first time all night, Maya didn't feel like she was missing anything at all.