The Pool Party Catastrophe

Maya stood at the edge of the **pool**, her heart racing faster than the bass from the Bluetooth speakers. This was it—Jake Henderson's legendary start-of-summer party, and she was wearing a two-piece for the first time since middle school.

"You coming in or what?" yelled Chloe from the shallow end, surrounded by her squad of perfectly tanned friends.

Maya was still psyching herself up when she heard a distinctive meow. Her stomach dropped. That sounded suspiciously like Mittens, her grandmother's prize-winning Persian, who was supposed to be locked in the laundry room back home.

"No way," she whispered.

Then she saw it—a fluffy white cat padding confidently along the pool deck like it owned the place. And worse—Jake's annoying little brother Tyler was running toward it with a supersoaker.

Without thinking, Maya took off **running**, tackling Tyler just as he squeezed the trigger. The water blasted sideways, drenching Jake's expensive speaker system. The music cut out with a pathetic electronic zap.

Silence fell over the party. Maya lay sprawled on the concrete, Mittens cowering safely under her arm, Tyler looking terrified, and Jake staring at his destroyed speakers like they were a fallen soldier.

"My bad," Maya said, sitting up and adjusting her bikini top. "Your brother was about to give my grandma's cat a heart attack."

Jake stared at her for what felt like an eternity, then started laughing. Not mean-girl laughing—full-on, bent-over laughing. Soon everyone joined in.

"Dude," Jake said, shaking his head. "That was legendary. Nobody ever stands up to Tyler."

As Maya carried a purring Mittens back to her house (she'd explain the cat-escape situation to her grandma later), her phone buzzed. A text from Jake: "Speaker's fried but party's not. U coming back? Swimming's better without music anyway."

Maya grinned. Maybe being the girl who saved a cat and destroyed the playlist wasn't the worst way to start high school after all.