BearTruths and Bad Luck

Jordan's room felt smaller than usual, the kind of cramped that happens when your brain is already crowded with way too much overthinking. The stuffed **bear** from childhood sat on the shelf, its button eye mocking them. Jordan was sixteen now, practically an adult, except for the part where they still hid in their room whenever things got weird.

Outside, the neighborhood kids were **running** up and down the street like they had nothing better to do on a Tuesday. Jordan's phone buzzed again. Kai wanted to hang. Maybe. Probably. The text was vague enough that it could mean anything from "let's study for finals" to "I'm secretly planning to embarrass you in front of everyone."

"Jordan! The internet's out again!" Mom's voice cut through their spiral.

Great. Another thing. The **cable** company had been promising to fix the connection for three weeks, which was basically an eternity in high school time. Jordan grabbed the ethernet cord from their bag – they'd started bringing it to school every day because the library WiFi was basically a suggestion.

The cord tangled around something in their bag, and when Jordan yanked it free, Mr. Whiskers' toy mouse came flying out. The family **cat**, who had been judging Jordan from the bed, perked up immediately.

"Really? Now you care?" Jordan sighed. But Mr. Whiskers was already batting at the mouse like it was the most interesting thing that had happened since someone accidentally set the trash can on fire behind the gym last month.

Their phone buzzed again. Kai: "my house. 7pm. bringing snacks. dont overthink it."

Jordan stared at the message, heart doing that stupid flutter thing. They looked at the bear on the shelf, the cat attacking a toy mouse, the tangled cable on the floor. Being sixteen was basically just a long series of almost moments and weird feelings and things you couldn't say out loud.

"Fine," Jordan said to no one. "But I'm bringing the bear."

Mr. Whiskers stopped mid-pounce and looked at them like they'd lost their mind. Maybe they had. But somehow, that felt okay too.