Fox in the Corner

Maya tugged at the hood of her oversized sweatshirt—the one with the fox embroidered on the chest that she'd begged her mom for, then immediately regretted buying because now everyone called her "Fox Girl." Which would've been fine if it was, like, ironic. But it wasn't. It was just weird.

She stood in the corner of Tyler's basement, nursing a lukewarm soda that she'd been holding for twenty minutes. Her palms were sweating so much she was practically leaving fingerprints on the can. This was fine. Everything was fine. Just another party where she didn't know anyone and her best friend had bailed thirty minutes before because she "wasn't feeling well" (code for: she'd rather be at home watching Netflix)

Maya had become a pro at spy work. Not the cool, Mission-Impossible kind. The sad kind, where she'd spent countless hours scrolling through Sophia's Instagram before tonight, memorizing everything from her favorite boba orders to the name of her childhood hamster, just so she could casually drop it in conversation like, "Oh my god, same! Peanut butter was totally the best flavor." Spoiler: she had never dropped it casually. In fact, she had dropped it not at all, because every time she'd tried to approach Sophia tonight, her throat had closed up like someone had punched her.

Across the room, Sophia laughed at something Tyler said, tossing her hair back like she was in a hair commercial. And suddenly Maya was just—tired. Tired of standing in corners, tired of memorizing facts about people who didn't know she existed, tired of wearing a fox hooded sweatshirt to a high school party like some kind of woodland creature mascot.

She marched over to the makeshift dance floor, yanked off her hood, and held out her hand.

"Hey," Maya said, her voice shaking. "I'm Maya. I like your shoes."

Sophia blinked, then smiled. It wasn't fake. "Thanks! My cousin got them for me from Japan. You're Fox Girl, right?"

Maya's stomach dropped. But then Sophia kept talking. "I was gonna come say hi earlier, but you seemed like you were in your zone. I love that sweatshirt, by the way. Foxes are my favorite animal."

Maya looked down at her sweaty palms, still outstretched, then back at Sophia's genuine smile. "Yeah," she said, finally letting herself exhale. "Mine too."