The Papaya Incident

Maya's first house party of sophomore year was NOT going according to plan. She'd spent forty-five minutes on her eyeliner (wing sharp enough to cut glass, thanks) and twenty minutes hyping herself up in the mirror, but now she was stuck in the kitchen holding a Solo cup like it was a lifeline.

"Try this." Jake pushed a chunk of yellow fruit toward her. "It's papaya. Exotic, right?"

Maya took it, because refusing would make things weird. The papaya sat in her mouth like suspiciously sweet soap.

"It's... interesting," she managed. Jake nodded like he'd just introduced her to fine wine. The same Jake who two weeks ago had eaten a expired yogurt because "expiration dates are basically suggestions."

The basement door opened and everyone rushed down for beer **pong**. Maya followed, trying to look like this was totally her scene. That's when she saw it – the backyard had one of those ridiculous beer can **pyramids** stacked against the fence, like some monument to bad decisions.

"Bro, don't knock over the pyramid," someone warned.

Too late. A **dog** – some golden retriever mix that had been roaming the party like it owned the place – bounded through and the whole thing crashed. Cans EVERYWHERE. The party went silent, then everyone started cheering like this was the coolest thing that had ever happened.

Maya spotted a girl sitting on the porch swing alone, watching the chaos with faint amusement. Lena, from her AP Bio class. Lena who always sat in the back, always had paint on her jeans, always looked like she knew something the rest of them didn't.

"This party is a disaster," Maya said, without planning to.

Lena laughed. Actually laughed. "That's what makes it good. Remember last week when Miller tried to be a **bear** during gym class and wrecked that display case?"

"OH MY GOD," Maya said. "I forgot about that. He was all 'I'm rawr I'm a bear' and just annihilated the trophy case."

"My **cat** gets more coordination when she's asleep," Lena said. "Wanna get out of here? There's this diner down the street that's still open."

Maya looked at Jake, currently shirt-swinging to music that wasn't even playing. Looked at the crashed pyramid and the dog now being decorated with empty cans like some sort of trophy.

"Yes," Maya said. "Absolutely yes."