The Sphinx by the Pool

Maya adjusted her floppy hat—partially for sun protection, mostly to hide the fact that she was panicking. She'd been invited to Jessica's legendary pool party, and she was currently standing alone by the snack table, pretending to be fascinated by a bowl of papaya cubes.

"Hey." A voice appeared beside her. Leo, the guy she'd been lowkey crushing since biology. His hair was wet, droplets catching the sunlight. "You're not swimming?"

"Oh, I—"

"This is Cleopatra." He gestured to the sphinx cat curled on the adjacent lounge chair, all wrinkled skin and attitude. "Jessica's grandma cat. She's judging everyone."

Maya laughed. "That's fitting. This party feels like a social experiment I wasn't prepared for."

"Same," Leo said, grabbing a papaya cube. "I've been here an hour and I've already escaped to the bathroom three times."

"Wait, really? You seem so... confident."

"Foxing it," he admitted with a grin. "Fake it 'til you make it. But this papaya is actually saving me. What's your escape strategy?"

"The hat," Maya said, touching the brim. "It's my emotional support hat."

Leo studied her for a moment. "You know, you're the only person here who hasn't jumped in the pool yet."

"That's because I'm still deciding whether this is a cool enough moment to cannonball into."

"Well," Leo said, "for what it's worth, I think you're interesting enough that whatever you do will automatically be cool."

Maya's face burned. "That's—"

"Also, I bet the sphinx would approve. Look at her, she's totally giving you approval points."

The cat blinked slowly.

"You're ridiculous," Maya said, but she was smiling. "Fine. Cannonball?"

"Cannonball." Leo held out his hand. "Together?"

She took it, left her hat on the lounge chair next to the judging sphinx, and they ran toward the pool, screaming, as the summer stretched ahead like something beginning, something wild and possible and new.