The Lake Between Us

The social pyramid at Jefferson High had Maya somewhere near the bottom, probably between the kids who played Magic cards in the library and the ones who asked to go to the bathroom during every single class. Not that she cared. Okay, she cared a little.

Running was her thing. Cross country, specifically — the sport where nobody watched and you could just disappear into the woods for forty minutes. Perfect.

"Yo, Martinez!" Austin called from his spot at the top of the pyramid,Varsity jacket basically gleaming under the cafeteria fluorescents. "Party at Miller's tonight. You should come."

Maya's fork froze halfway to her mouth. Austin Torres. The guy whose Instagram stories she'd been watching since September. The guy who didn't know she existed until yesterday, when she'd accidentally beat his time at the meet.

"Yeah?" she managed, trying to sound like someone who got invited to parties all the time. "Maybe."

"Bring your cousin," he added, nodding toward her cousin Carlos, who sat next to Austin, already part of that world. "More the merrier."

Later that evening, Maya stood at Miller's door, heart hammering. She could hear bass through the wood, smell something burning, feel the wave of nervousness that made her want to turn around and go home.

Then she heard it — barking. A small, frantic sound from the backyard.

Maya slipped around the side of the house and found a golden retriever puppy, tangled in what looked like Christmas lights, whimpering by the edge of Miller's above-ground pool. The dog's water bowl had tipped over, leaving it parched and stressed.

"Hey there, buddy," she whispered, kneeling down. "You're a mess."

She spent ten minutes untangling the lights, then filled the water bowl from the outdoor spigot. The puppy drank greedily, then immediately tried to climb her leg like she was a jungle gym.

"Having fun back there?"

Maya jumped. Austin stood on the back deck, holding two red plastic cups. He wasn't wearing his Varsity jacket for once, just a faded t-shirt that said "Question Everything" in letters that were starting to crack.

"Your dog was... tied up," she said.

"That's Buster. My sister's dog, actually. We're watching him." Austin hopped down the deck stairs and crouched beside them. Buster immediately abandoned Maya for Austin, which felt vaguely like betrayal. "He's chaos incarnate. Sorry if he was being a menace."

"He's fine," Maya said. "Just thirsty."

Austin studied her for a second. "You know, I meant what I said at lunch. About the party. I was gonna come find you anyway."

"Because I beat your time?" Maya couldn't help asking.

"Because you're interesting," Austin said simply. "Also, yeah, because you beat my time, and I'm dangerously competitive and need to know how you did it."

Maya laughed. It just came out.

"Come inside," Austin said, standing up and offering her a hand. "Unless you'd rather stay out here with Buster. He is pretty good company."

Buster chose that moment to sneeze, shake his entire body like he'd just gone swimming, and bolt toward the pool.

"Buster, NO!" they both yelled.

They spent the next twenty minutes fishing a wet, shedding, unrepentant dog out of the pool while the party continued without them. Maya's favorite hoodie was soaked. Austin's hair was plastered to his forehead. Buster looked disproportionately pleased with himself.

"Well," Austin said, wringing out his shirt. "This is not how I saw tonight going."

Maya looked at him — really looked at him. Not Austin the Popular Guy, but Austin, who apparently couldn't swim that well, who cared more about a dog than his party appearance, who was currently dripping pool water onto the concrete and smiling like this was exactly where he wanted to be.

"Me neither," she said. "But I'm not mad about it."

"Yeah?" Austin stepped a little closer. "You want to maybe go for a run tomorrow morning? Before school? I promise to actually try this time."

"Only if you think you can keep up," Maya said.

Buster shook himself off again, spraying them both with a fresh wave of pool water.

"Challenge accepted," Austin said.

Maya walked back into the party wet, smelling like chlorine and dog, feeling like maybe the pyramid at Jefferson High wasn't as rigid as she'd thought. Or maybe she'd just found someone willing to climb down from the top.