Washed Up

The pool party was supposed to be Maya's social resurrection. After spending freshman year as the girl who "literally always" sat alone at lunch, this was her chance to finally be someone. Someone who wasn't invisible.

Then Jason showed up.

"Yo, watch out," Jason announced, cannonballing into the deep end with the confidence of a guy who'd never been rejected in his life. Water everywhere. Maya's favorite vintage tee—soaked.

"My bad," Jason grinned, not sorry at all. "You good?"

"Totally," Maya lied, because that's what you did. You pretended you weren't dripping pool water in front of half the sophomore class.

That's when she heard it—mewing from behind the pool house. A tiny tabby cat, shivering and soaked from someone's earlier water balloon fight.

Maya crouched down, forgetting her carefully curated cool for a second. "Hey, little guy. You okay?"

"Aw, it likes you!" This was Ella, the girl Maya had been trying to impress all year. "We should get him a towel."

"Thanks," Maya said, but when she reached for the cat, it hissed and bolted—straight toward the pool's edge.

"NO!" Maya lunged, grabbing the cat mid-air as it tumbled toward the water. They both went down hard, Maya scraping her knee against concrete, the cat scrambling up her chest like she was a tree.

For a second, everything stopped. Jason and his friends staring. Ella with her phone out, probably recording. The cat vibrating against Maya's chest, terrified.

Then Jason did something unexpected. "That was... actually kinda sick, Maya."

"What?"

"You saved him," Ella said, lowering her phone. "That was really brave."

The cat purred loudly, embarrassing in its approval. Maya realized her knees were bleeding, her makeup was probably ruined, and she was still the girl who did weird, impulsive things without thinking.

But maybe that wasn't the worst thing to be.

"He's shaking," Maya said, and Ella's brother tossed over his hoodie.

"We can keep him in the bathroom until his owner shows up," Ella suggested. "You coming?"

Jason was still watching. Different now, though. Less bull in the china shop, more guy who'd just seen someone do something real.

"Yeah," Maya said, standing up with the cat bundled in the oversized hoodie. "I'm coming."

Her phone buzzed—mom asking if she was having fun. Maya texted back: actually yeah. maybe for real.

For the first time, it wasn't a lie.