Charged and Exposed

Maya's thumb hovered over the Instagram profile—her best friend's older brother, the one who'd graduated college and moved to Seattle. She wasn't a stalker, just... thorough. Her phone died at 2%, right as she was about to DM him about his band's new single.

"You're so busted," Leo said from across the cafeteria table. "I saw you do the triple-tap zoom."

"Shut up," Maya whispered, glancing around. "I wasn't spying. I was doing... research."

"On his Spotify wrapped? From three years ago?" Leo raised an eyebrow. "That's not research, that's evidence."

Maya's face burned. At sixteen, she should've been past this—crushing on someone who saw her as the annoying little sister who still watched cartoons. But Tyler had DM'd her first, asking if she'd heard his new demo. They'd been talking for weeks, and every notification made her heart skip.

Then came the group project incident.

She'd forgotten her charging cable at home. Phone dead. Tyler had sent an are you still up? message at midnight. She didn't see it until morning. By then, he'd followed up with never mind, you're probably busy.

The next day, Leo found her crying behind the gym.

"He thinks I'm ghosting him," she said. "Because of a stupid cable."

"So tell him the truth," Leo said. "Unless you want him to think you're some kind of professional ghoster."

"What if he thinks I'm lying?"

"What if he doesn't?" Leo countered. "Not everyone's playing games, Maya. Some people just want to know you're interested."

That night, she typed out the truth—how her phone had died, how she'd been too nervous to check her messages in the morning, how she'd been overthinking everything because she actually really liked talking to him.

His response came instantly: lol same. I thought I was being annoying.

Her dog chose that exact moment to knock over her water bottle, soaking her homework. But as she scrambled to save her English essay, she couldn't stop smiling. Sometimes the most embarrassing moments led to the best conversations. And maybe—just maybe—she didn't have to spy from afar anymore.