Palm Trees & Pretending
Maya's palms were sweating. Literally sweating. She stared at the transfer student, Liam, who was currently surrounded by the popular crowd like he'd known them for years instead o...
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Maya's palms were sweating. Literally sweating. She stared at the transfer student, Liam, who was currently surrounded by the popular crowd like he'd known them for years instead o...
Jordan tugged the brim of her bucket hat lower, trying to disappear into the crowd. The county fair was basically social warfare—everyone from school was here, posting stories, liv...
Maya's ancient TV flickered like it was having an existential crisis, the coaxial cable frayed from three years of dorm-room abuse. She smashed the side panel—her time-honored tech...
Maya's summer was officially cooked. Stuck at her aunt's house in the suburbs, babysitting her cousin's ancient golden retriever, Barnaby. The dog had more energy than Maya's entir...
Maya's room was basically a shrine to her goldfish, Bubbles, who'd survived three years and two near-death experiences despite Maya occasionally forgetting to feed him. "You're the...
The invitation burned in my pocket like a secret I wasn't supposed to keep. Chloe's pool party. The social event of the summer, and I'd actually been invited. Me. Leo. The guy who ...
Maya's summer was supposed to be perfect. Instagram-perfect. She'd convinced her parents to let her go on that camping trip with Jake's crew because everyone knew that if you didn'...
The social pyramid at Lincoln High had Jake at the very top—varsity quarterback, perfect hair, Instagram famous. I was somewhere near the bottom, clinging to the middle by my finge...
Maya's hair was supposed to be caramel highlights. Instead, it looked like a raccoon had exploded on her head. "You're not backing out," Chloe said, adjusting the strap of her flo...
Maya's phone died at 2% during the most important group chat of her life. Typical. "You're so dramatic," Jayden said, tossing her a charging cable across the cafeteria table. "It'...
Maya stood before the full-length mirror, smoothing down her vintage floral dress. It was the first house party of sophomore year, and her social survival depended on making the ri...
Maya shuffled into third period like a zombie, eyes half-closed and limbs dragging. Three consecutive nights of doom-scrolling until 3 AM would do that to a person. She hadn't even...