The Signal in the Static
Maya's lucky **hat** sat backward on her head, the brim curved perfectly from three years of anxiety-fidgeting. It was basically part of her skull at this point. "You gonna stare ...
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Maya's lucky **hat** sat backward on her head, the brim curved perfectly from three years of anxiety-fidgeting. It was basically part of her skull at this point. "You gonna stare ...
My palms were sweating so bad I could practically water plants with them. I wiped them on my jeans for the hundredth time, staring at the **orange** hoodie across the cafeteria. M...
Maya's mom thrust the bottle at her over breakfast. "You need these. You look pale." "I'm fine," Maya said, though she secretly pocketed two vitamin gummies—strawberry, shaped lik...
Maya's palms were sweating so bad she could barely grip her iPhone. This was pathetic—she was sixteen, not twelve, but here she was, sitting in the bleachers pretending to care abo...
Maya's hair had betrayed her. Again. She stood in front of her bathroom mirror, staring at the disaster zone on her head. The expensive salon product her mom swore by had created ...
The coaxial **cable** lay coiled on my bedroom floor like a dead snake, its frayed end staring at me. Mom's voice echoed through the house: "Jordan! Did you take your **vitamin** D...
The vitamin gummies sat on my nightstand, mocking me. Mom swore they'd help with my 'growth spurt,' which was basically code for 'you're short, Marcus, deal with it.' I shoved them...
The pool deck was basically a social minefield, and Maya was walking through it without a map. Jordan's house party had everything: expensive furniture, kids who'd already gotten i...
Marcus stood in front of East High's invisible social pyramid, hands shoved in his hoodie pockets. Freshmen at the bottom. Seniors at the top. And somewhere in the middle, that leg...
The carnival smelled like fried dough and desperation, exactly the kind of Friday night Riley usually avoided. But here they were, winning a goldfish while wearing a blinding orang...
Marcus pulled the fedora down over his eyebrows, checking his reflection in the locker mirror. He'd bought it online with his birthday money—vintage 1980s, eBay said. Sophisticated...
The carnival goldfish lived exactly three days. I named him Kevin, because Kevin seemed like a solid, trustworthy name for a creature whose entire existence would span less than a ...