The Papaya Incident

Maya's summer was officially a flop. Her friends were all posting beach pics from Lake Tahoe, while she was stuck working at her aunt's organic grocery store. The highlight of her day was restacking the produce pyramid for the third time.

That's when the orange cat appeared.

It wasn't even her cat. Some stray had been wandering around the shopping center for weeks, and Maya had been secretly leaving it water behind the dumpster. Today, the cat—she'd named him Clementine, obviously—decided to make his grand entrance through the automatic doors.

"Ma'am, you can't have pets in here," Maya started, but then she noticed what was in Clementine's mouth.

A papaya. A perfect, apparently stolen papaya.

Before she could react, her crush Jake walked in. Jake, who'd just graduated and was basically a god in their small town. Jake, who she'd been lowkey obsessing over since seventh grade.

"Is that... is that a cat with a papaya?" Jake asked, like this was the most normal thing ever.

"His name is Clementine," Maya said, then immediately wanted to die. "And yes, apparently he's into exotic fruit."

Jake cracked up. Not the fake laugh he gave teachers, but a real one. That's when Clementine dropped the papaya, which rolled across the floor and somehow knocked over an entire display of—because the universe had it out for her—organic oranges.

Oranges everywhere. Like, literally everywhere. The produce manager was going to kill her.

But Jake just started helping her pick them up. "You know," he said, "my sister's been looking for a cat. You think Clementine needs a home?"

Maya's heart did that embarrassing flutter thing. "I think he might. I mean, if she's cool with a fruit-stealing situation."

"Totally." Jake handed her the last orange. Their fingers brushed. "Hey, some of us are going to the lake tomorrow. You should come. Bring the cat if you want."

Maya couldn't stop grinning. Her summer might not be so flopped after all. And Clementine? Yeah, he was definitely getting the good treats from now on.