Cat-5 Catastrophe

Maya's phone buzzed for the third time in as many minutes. *U coming?* flashed across the screen from Jordan. The squad was gathering for the biggest Among Us session of the year, and Maya was still wrestling with her Frankenstein setup.

"Mr. Whiskers, NO!" she shouted as her orange tabby cat pounced on the tangled mess of ethernet cable behind her desk. The cat had decided every single wire was his personal enemy, and Maya's tournament dreams hung by a literal thread.

Outside, lightning cracked the sky like a photobomb from the universe, making her monitor flicker ominously. Great. A storm. Because the universe clearly hated her social life.

*DSL cable frayed,* she muttered, yanking at the connection. Her cheap IKEA desk setup looked like something from a "setup wars" nightmare - cables snaking everywhere like rainbow spaghetti. Meanwhile, Jordan was probably streaming from his RGB paradise, his setup flexed for days.

"Why is this so hard?" Maya groaned, shoving Mr. Whiskers away with her foot. The cat retaliated by knocking over her Mountain Dew, which narrowly missed her keyboard but definitely splashed her mom's carpet.

*dead* if she saw that.

Another lightning strike. The power dipped. Maya's heart raced. If she missed tonight, she'd be that loser forever, the one who couldn't get her act together. The squad would move on, find a replacement, and she'd be that awkward story they told at parties - "remember when Maya's cat ruined everything?"

But then Jordan texted again: *ur cat being dramatic again?*

Maya smiled. Maybe they got it. Maybe she didn't need to be perfect.

She managed to wrestle the cable into something resembling functional. Mr. Whiskers settled on her lap, purring like a tiny motor. The storm raged outside, but inside, everything was finally working.

*.*