Everything That Glitters

Maya's fingers trembled as she scrolled through her cracked iPhone screen, watching Kylie's Instagram stories flood her feed. The track team dinner photos. The candid shots of everyone laughing at Taco Bell. Maya hadn't been invited. Again.

She tossed the phone onto her bed like it was radioactive. The screen flickered once, then died — the battery had been draining faster than her confidence lately.

"Whatever," Maya muttered, grabbing her running shoes. She'd go for a night run. Clear her head. Maybe burn off the FOMO that had been eating at her since freshman year started.

The suburban streets were quiet, bathed in that eerie orange glow from the streetlights. Maya's sneakers slapped against the pavement in a rhythm that usually comforted her. Left, right, breathe. Left, right, breathe. But tonight it felt wrong. Like she was running toward something instead of away from it.

She found herself at Jordan's house before she realized she'd headed that direction. His bedroom light was on. Maya's heart did that stupid fluttery thing it always did when she thought about him — the way he smiled at her in AP Bio, how he'd defended her when Tyler made that comment about her hair last week.

Maya fished her iPhone from her pocket, praying it had enough charge. Three percent. Just enough.

Her thumbs hovered over the keyboard. What would she even say? "Hey, thinking about you while running past your house at 10 PM like a total creep"?

Instead, she opened Instagram and saw that Jordan had posted a story too. A picture of a Flintstone gummy vitamin on his tongue with the caption: "My mom still thinks I'm five 😂"

Maya actually laughed out loud. Jordan. The perfect track star. The guy everyone wanted to be seen with. Still taking cartoon vitamins because his mom bought them.

Suddenly, the iPhone buzzed in her hand. A DM from Jordan.

"saw u running past my house. everything ok?"

Maya stared at the screen, her pulse suddenly racing for a completely different reason. The streetlights blurred. The FOMO, the insecurity, the feeling of being on the outside looking in — none of it mattered right now.

She typed back: "yeah. just needed to clear my head. ur mom still buys u those vitamins??"

"shhh don't tell anyone lol. want company?"

Maya grinned, her finger hovering over the running app she'd opened earlier. She closed it instead.

"always."

She didn't run another step that night. But somehow, she'd never felt lighter.