Fox in the Hallways

Zara's vintage cable-knit sweater was supposed to be her armor—thick enough to hide the shaking, soft enough to feel like a hug when nobody else noticed she was falling apart. But standing in the middle of East High's cafeteria, clutching her tray like a lifeline, she felt more exposed than protected. The rumors about her and Tyler had been circulating like a bad WiFi signal all week—someone had spotted them talking behind the bleachers after football practice, and now the whole school had decided they were a thing.

The bull, as in straight-up BS, had started with Chloe's Instagram story featuring a strategically timed screenshot of Zara's text to Tyler about the chemistry project. The caption read "u guys 😍" and the internet had done the rest. Tyler—the actual fox, with his messy dark hair and tendency to zone out in English class—hadn't even responded to Zara's three follow-up texts.

Zara's cat, Mochi, would've handled this better. Mochi didn't care what anyone thought. Mochi would've hissed at Chloe and moved on with her life.

Instead, Zara was running away from confrontation like always. Her cross-country coach said she had potential, but Zara knew the truth: she was good at running because she'd had years of practice escaping her own feelings. Last night, she'd literally sprinted away from Tyler when he'd tried to catch her walking home from the library.

"Hey, Zara!"

She spun around too fast, her tray tilting dangerously. Tyler was weaving through the crowded hallway like he was trying not to be seen, which was ridiculous because everyone was already looking. The social dynamics of sophomore year were exhausting.

"Can we talk?" He was actually breathing hard, like he'd been running after her. "I heard what Chloe's saying, and that's—"

"Bull," Zara finished, surprising herself. "I know."

Tyler blinked. "Yeah. But I also wanted to say... I texted you back. Like, three times."

Zara pulled out her phone, heart suddenly racing. There they were—three messages she'd somehow missed because she'd been too busy panic-scrolling through Chloe's story to check her actual notifications.

"Oh," she said. "Oh my god."

"So, about that chemistry project," Tyler said, rubbing the back of his neck, which was doing this stupidly cute blush thing. "You still want to work on it together? For real?"

Zara looked down at her cable-knit sweater, at her shaking hands that were finally still. She thought about Mochi, who somehow always landed on her feet. She thought about how she'd been running from everything except what she actually wanted.

"Yeah," she said, and this time her voice didn't shake at all. "For real."