Electric Friday Night

The hat was everything. A beat-up navy blue snapback that Maya's older brother left when he moved out, pulled low enough to hide her forehead but not so low that it looked try-hard. It was her armor against freshman year at Northwood High—specifically, against hallway collisions with upperclassmen and the terrifying prospect of being noticed.

"You look like you're about to rob a 7-Eleven," Priya said, linking arms with Maya as they navigated the Friday night football game crowd. "You good?"

"Never better," Maya lied, adjusting the brim. "Just vibrating with school spirit. Go Wildcats?"

They found their friends near the concession stand, where someone's older brother had procured a suspiciously large amount of glitter. The conversation bounced between AP Bio trauma and who was dating who, until someone mentioned that Ethan—actual junior, varsity running back, objectively gorgeous—was at the game with his friends.

Maya's stomach did something complicated. She'd been crushing on Ethan since orientation, when he'd held the door open for her and she'd responded with a weirdly enthusiastic "thanks, YOU TOO."

"Speak of the devil," Priya whispered.

Ethan was walking toward them, and Maya's brain short-circuited. Before she could overthink it, she was RUNNING toward the snack stand like it contained the cure for everything that had ever gone wrong in her life.

She'd made it three steps when lightning cracked across the sky—not actual weather, but the stadium lights flickering dramatically because the universe clearly hated her. She stumbled, her hat flying off.

"Hey, wait up!"

Maya turned, mortified. Ethan stood there holding her hat, which had apparently failed to protect her dignity.

"You dropped this," he said, grinning. "Nice form, though. You thinking about track? Coach is always looking for fresh blood."

"I—what?" Maya's brain was still buffering.

"Track. Running. You were booking it out there like you stole something." He extended the hat. "I'm Ethan, by the way."

"Maya," she managed, accepting the hat with fingers that felt suspiciously like jelly. "I was just..."

"Running? Yeah, caught that." His smile was unfairly cute. "Hey, some of us are gonna get vitamin D deficiency from being under these lights all night. Want to come hang? We're gonna make fun of the halftime show."

Maya looked at Priya, who was vibrating with suppressed excitement. Looked at Ethan, who was waiting for her answer like it actually mattered.

She pulled the hat back on, brim still low but something different now—like armor that had actually seen battle and survived.

"Only if you promise not to mention my 7-Eleven robber energy again."

"Deal," Ethan said. "But I make no promises about the halftime commentary."

Maya's heart was still doing weird things, but for the first time all year, they weren't the terrified kind.