Electric Palm

Maya's palms were sweating through her phone case as she refreshed Jake's profile for the third time that hour. Classic stalker behavior, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. Ever since Jake had liked her Instagram story two weeks ago, she'd been basically spying on his social media like it was her full-time job.

"You're being creepy," her best friend Chloe had said earlier that day. "Just talk to him already."

Easier said than done. Maya's palms started sweating again just thinking about it.

Now, at the summer music festival, Maya spotted Jake near the food trucks. Her heart did that weird lightning-strike thing where it felt like electricity was zapping through her chest. Jake looked up and their eyes met across the crowd. He smiled.

Maya froze. Her palms went into full-on waterfall mode.

Then the sky opened up.

Thunder cracked like someone had dropped a bowling ball upstairs, and lightning flashed so bright everything went white for a second. The festival crowd screamed and scattered toward covered areas.

Maya ended up squeezed under a tent with Jake, their shoulders practically touching. The rain poured down in sheets, turning the dirt into mud.

"So," Jake said, wiping rain from his forehead. "I was going to come find you."

Maya's brain short-circuited. "You were?"

"Yeah. I've seen you around school." He grinned. "Also, you left that comment on my post about the new Marvel movie. Pretty solid take."

Maya felt her face burning hotter than the summer air. "Oh my god, you saw that? I thought I was being all subtle and stuff."

Jake laughed. "Not really. But it was cute."

Another lightning strike illuminated everything in purple-blue light. In that moment, Maya's phone buzzed in her hand — a notification from Instagram. Jake had followed her.

"There," he said. "Now you can stop refreshing my profile every five minutes."

Maya's palms were still sweating, but somehow, she didn't mind anymore.