You Run Into A Group Of Cheerleaders

The summer air hit like a slap—thick with cicada screams and the cloying sweetness of cut grass—but I barely registered it over the bell's relentless jingling. Sanah paused at the sidewalk, her phone already angled to capture my hunched shoulders, the way my fists clenched every time the leash went taut. "Relax," she laughed, giving the lead another sharp yank. "It's just the cul-de—oh shit." Her grip suddenly loosened, her entire posture shifting as three figures rounded the corner: Lina Park and her cheer squad, their matching cheer bags slung over shoulders still tanned from summer camp.

Sanah's heel dug into my instep, her whisper a blade. "Down." My knees hit the pavement before my brain caught up, the leash slackening as she stepped forward—but not before Lina's sharp gasp cut through the dusk. "No fucking way," she breathed, her Jordans scuffing to a halt inches from my face. The other girls crowded in, their shadows swallowing me whole as Sanah cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah," she said, suddenly all faux-casual as she twirled the leash around her wrist. "We were just—"

"Please." The word tore from me before I could stop it, my forehead nearly touching Lina's shoelaces. The girls went dead silent—even Sanah froze—but I couldn't lift my head, couldn't unsee the way Lina's perfectly glossed lips parted in shock. "Please let me be your pet too," I choked out, the bell chiming with each ragged breath. "I'll—I'll do anything." Sanah's grip on the leash went slack. Lina's manicured fingers hovered near her mouth. And then—like a damn breaking—the squad erupted into shrieks loud enough to wake the neighborhood.