Digital Palmistry

Maya's palms were sweating as she clutched her iPhone, her heart practically running a marathon in her chest. The group chat was blowing up with reactions to Sarah's leaked DM—maya had been right there when it happened, screenshot-ready and morally conflicted.

"You coming to the party tonight?" Jayden had DM'd her two minutes ago, and Maya had been staring at the notification since.

Her cat, Nacho, chose that moment to leap onto her desk, knocking over her perfectly organized succulent collection. Because that's what cats did—they disrupted your existential crisis to demand attention.

"Nacho, no," Maya groaned, saving her phone from the edge of the desk. The screen showed her reflection: messy bun, stressed eyes, the whole high school junior aesthetic.

Her phone buzzed again. Not Jayden. Sarah.

"I know you have the screenshot. Everyone knows."

Maya stopped breathing. She'd been so careful. She'd only shown two people. Well, three, if you counted Connor accidentally seeing it over her shoulder. Fine, four, if you counted the group chat mention. Okay, she had zero chill.

Suddenly, Nacho was staring at her palm—which Maya had extended in frustration—and started gently head-butting it. This cat was weirdly affectionate for a creature that spent 23 hours a day sleeping.

"You think I should tell the truth?" Maya whispered to him. "Even if it means losing everyone?"

Nacho sneezed on her hand.

Gross, but also… message received.

Maya's thumbs were shaking as she typed on her iPhone, running on pure adrenaline and maybe a little bit of that weird confidence you get when you've hit rock bottom.

"Yeah. I have it. And I'm sorry I didn't delete it."

She hit send before she could panic-delete the confession.

Her phone remained silent for exactly 47 seconds. Then: a party invite from Jayden. A meme from Connor. And from Sarah: "Thanks for having my back. Even if you have zero chill."

Maya laughed so hard she scared Nacho off the desk. Some days, you barely survived high school. Other days, you accidentally figured out who your real friends were.