The Papaya Incident

Maya stood outside Jordan's house, clutching her iphone like a lifeline. Three missed texts from Chloe: "WHERE R U???" She adjusted her oversized bucket hat—her armor against social awkwardness—and took a deep breath.

Inside, the party was already popping. Kids she'd known since middle school were scattered across the living room, red Solo cups in hand. Maya's heart did that weird fluttery thing it always did when she was about to enter a room full of people who seemed so much cooler than her.

"Maya! Finally!" Chloe grabbed her wrist. "You have to try this punch. Jordan's dad owns a juice bar or something, it's actually fire."

The punch was a suspicious shade of orange. "What's in it?"

"Papaya, mango, some other exotic stuff. Just drink it."

Maya took a sip. And gagged. "Oh my god, that's literally papaya juice."

"You're so uncultured," Chloe laughed, but her eyes were already scanning the room for someone else to talk to. Typical.

Maya retreated to the kitchen, filled a cup with water from the fridge, and found herself face-to-face with the scariest person in school: Hunter, varsity quarterback and heartbreaker of at least three freshman girls this year alone. He was crouched on the floor, making kissy noises.

"You good?" Maya asked, despite herself.

Hunter looked up, wiping his hands on his jeans. "Yeah, Jordan's cat is hiding under the cabinets. I've been trying to get her out for like twenty minutes."

A tiny calico cat peeked out, wide-eyed and trembling. Maya set her water on the counter and knelt down. "Hey there, little one."

"What's her name?" Maya asked softly.

"Biscuit. She's not used to parties."

Maya reached into her pocket and pulled out a small piece of dried papaya—organic, from her mom's health kick phase—that she'd been saving for later. She held it out. Biscuit inched forward, sniffed, and then delicately accepted the offering.

Hunter stared at her. "Did you just have dried papaya in your pocket?"

"Long story."

He cracked a smile. Not the fake one he used at school. A real one. "That's honestly kind of brilliant."

They sat there for ten minutes, feeding Biscuit papaya pieces and talking about everything except how weird it was that they were hanging out. Hunter wasn't actually that terrible. He was just trying too hard, same as everyone else.

When Chloe finally found them, she did a double-take. "Maya? Are you... is that Hunter Williams?"

Maya adjusted her hat, suddenly self-conscious again. But Hunter just grinned. "Maya was helping me rescue Biscuit. She's basically a cat whisperer."

"Cat whisperer?" Chloe raised an eyebrow, but she was smiling too. "Okay, I see you."

Later, Maya sat on Jordan's back porch with her water and her phone, watching the party through the sliding glass doors. She'd come in with a hat and left with a cat friend and a maybe-sort-of-new friend who turned out to be a actual human being instead of a social archetype.

She typed to Chloe: "that wasn't terrible lol"

Chloe responded instantly: "told you. Also hunter was totally flirting with you??"

Maya laughed out loud. Maybe first parties weren't so bad after all. Even with the papaya.