The Spinach Incident

Maya's cat, Pluto, had decided the middle of her first pool party was the perfect time to make a break for it. One minute he was chilling under her bed, the next he was bolting toward the neighbor's yard with Maya's grandma's spinach dip still clinging to his whiskers.

"Yo, your cat's going full beast mode," said Jordan, the cute swimmer boy Maya had been lowkey obsessing over for weeks. Great. First impression: cat wrangler.

"I got this," Maya lied, already sweating through her swimsuit coverup.

She chased Pluto past the pool where everyone was swimming—Jordan doing laps, the popular girls taking mirror selfies, her best friend Kai trying to look like they weren't dying inside. Social events were basically their sphinx of doom: impossible puzzles where one wrong move meant eternal awkwardness.

Pluto cornered himself against the fence, spinach-dipped face judging them all.

"Need help?" Jordan was suddenly there, dripping wet and way too close. His shampoo smelled like coconut and confidence.

"I mean, if you want," Maya said, trying to play it cool while internally screaming. Jordan crouched down, all easy grace and zero hesitation, and between them they somehow managed to scoop up the indignant cat.

"Nice teamwork," he said, grinning. And maybe Maya imagined it, but his eyes lingered for like, half a second too long.

Later, when everyone was swimming again and Kai was hyperventilating in the corner about having to actually interact with humans, Maya found herself next to Jordan by the snack table.

"So," he said, "your cat has expensive taste in dip."

Maya laughed before she could overthink it. "Only the gourmet stuff for Pluto."

"Cool," Jordan said, and then, "hey, some of us are hitting the beach tomorrow. You should come."

Maya looked at Kai, who was now bravely talking to one of the popular girls. Looked at Jordan, who was still smiling at her like she was someone worth getting to know. Looked at Pluto, who was passed out on a lawn chair like nothing had happened.

"Yeah," Maya said, and the word felt like coming up for air after being underwater too long. "Yeah, I think I will."