The Party Crash Protocol

Maya's iphone burned against her thigh, vibrating with the fifth text from Jenna: 'WHERE R U??? The party's lit!' Maya stood outside Jake's house, heart doing that annoying flutter thing it always did when Tyler was involved.

She'd spent two hours on her outfit—curating that perfect 'effortless cool' vibe that TikTok swore was effortless but definitely wasn't. Now she couldn't make her hand turn the doorknob.

'Maybe I'll just...' she started.

Then she heard it: a furious yowling from the backyard.

Maya's feet moved before her brain could overthink it. She rounded the corner to find Tyler—the actual Tyler, wearing that stupidly perfect denim jacket—staring at a massive **bull** that had somehow wandered into the subdivision from the farm down the road.

'That's... a lot of cow,' Maya heard herself say. Smooth.

Tyler's eyes snapped to hers, wide with 'oh no' energy. 'It's a bull actually. And I think it belongs to the Millers.' He paused. 'Also, hi Maya.' That smile though.

The bull took a step toward someone's inflatable pool. Behind it, a tiny black **cat** hissed from the safety of the porch rail, looking like it was judging everyone's life choices.

'Jake's gonna lose his mind if his dad finds out there's a bull drinking from his pool,' Maya said, moving closer to Tyler. Their shoulders brushed. Static.

'True. Also, pretty sure that's illegal?' Tyler pulled out his phone. 'I should call—'

'My phone's dead,' Maya lied. It wasn't. She just wanted to stand here with him, united in the face of suburban chaos.

The bull dipped its massive head into the **water**, sending a wave sloshing over the concrete. The cat yowled again, apparently disgusted by this lack of professionalism.

Tyler's hand brushed hers as they both reached for the nonexistent fence between them. 'So... this is happening,' he said, and they both cracked up, the nervous kind of laugh that felt like letting go of something you'd been holding forever.

'Wanna just hang out here?' Maya asked, surprised by her own courage. 'Until the bull decides to leave?'

Tyler's smile was real this time. 'Yeah. Yeah, I do.'

Somewhere inside the house, the bass dropped. Maya's phone buzzed again with Jenna's FOMO texts. But she didn't check. Some parties were better than expected, even if they involved wayward livestock and zero actual attendance.