Dead Drop DM

My palms were sweating so bad I could barely grip my iPhone. I was lurking behind the fake palm tree at Chloe's pool party, watching Tyler—myTyler—laugh with Jessica. Again.

I wasn't just watching. I was documenting. My secret Instagram account, @school_spy_teens, had 2,000 followers hanging on my every post about who liked who, who ghosted who, who was playing who. Being the spy made me feel powerful. Seen. Like I mattered in a school where I was practically invisible.

Then my phone buzzed. A DM from @unknown_user: "I know what you're doing. Meet me by the pool equipment shed in 5 minutes or I expose everything."

My heart hammered. Tyler and Jessica were still flirting. The pool water sparkled. Everyone was having the time of their lives while I was about to lose the one thing that made me feel special.

I crept toward the shed, phone clutched tight in my palm. Shadows stretched long across the deck. The smell of chlorine mixed with someone's vape smoke.

"You came."

I spun around. Tyler.

"You're @unknown_user?"

He stepped closer. "I've been following your account since September. Your posts? They're how I knew you existed."

My brain short-circuited. "What?"

"I've been trying to figure out how to talk to you for months. The spy posts are genius, by the way." His phone showed my profile. "I thought if I threatened to expose you, maybe you'd actually notice me."

The fake palm tree swayed in the breeze. The party noise faded.

"But," I stammered, "you're with Jessica—"

"Making you jealous? Is it working?"

His palm brushed mine as he reached for my phone. "Delete the account. Let me spy on you instead."

Pool party or not, I'd never been more underwater.