Electric Orange Friday

Maya stood on the bleachers, squeezed between half the sophomore class, everyone moving like a horde of zombies after three days of finals week. The football stadium lights hummed above them, casting everything in that weird orange glow that made everyone look slightly sick but also somehow legendary.

"You good?" whispered Sarah, nudging her. Sarah, who had been Maya's best friend since kindergarten but now sat with the popular crowd at lunch. Sometimes Maya felt like she was watching their friendship through a fogged window.

"Yeah," Maya lied. "Just tired."

The truth was, Maya's stomach had been doing backflips since she'd seen Jordan by the concession stand earlier. Jordan, with their messy hair and that vintage jacket that looked like it belonged in a music video. Jordan, who'd actually looked at Maya today—like, really looked at her—for what felt like three full seconds.

A crack of lightning split the sky. The cheerleaders didn't even flinch, but Maya felt it in her teeth. The weather app had said nothing about storms, but then again, the weather app had also promised sun during homecoming, and they'd all gotten poured on.

"We should probably go," someone yelled, but nobody moved. Because that was the thing about high school football games—nobody wanted to be the first to leave, like admitting you had something better to do was social suicide.

Then Jordan was climbing up the bleachers, and Maya's brain went completely static.

"Hey," Jordan said, sliding into the empty spot beside her. Their arms brushed, and Maya stopped breathing. "Forgot my hoodie here earlier. You seen it?"

Maya's mind went blank. Had she seen it? She'd seen approximately zero things that weren't Jordan's face for the past hour.

"I think it's under the bench," she managed. Her voice came out weird and high.

Jordan leaned forward, their shoulder pressing against Maya's arm, and she thought, oh. This was what all those songs were about. This lightning-strike feeling that wasn't scary at all, just electric and huge.

"Found it." Jordan straightened up, orange hoodie in hand. They hesitated, then—"You want to walk to my car? Before the storm gets worse?"

Maya looked at Sarah, who was already grinning and giving her this tiny thumbs-up.

"Yeah," Maya said, and for the first time all night, she didn't feel like a zombie at all. "Yeah, I'd like that."