Hair, Lies, and Instagram

Maya stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, her hair frizzing out like she'd stuck her finger in an electrical socket. Third day of sophomore year, and she'd already spent twenty minutes fighting with her curls while her phone buzzed with texts from the group chat.

"You coming to lunch?"

She grimaced at her hair, grabbed her beanie, and shoved the chaos underneath. Better invisible than a mess.

The cafeteria was already loud when she slid into her seat across from Jada. Maya's eyes drifted—not accidentally—to the sophomore table where Lucas sat. He was laughing at something, his hair falling over his eyes in that way that made her stomach do actual gymnastics. She'd been basically cyber-stalking his Instagram since summer camp (okay, maybe that was a little creepy, whatever), and now here he was, twenty feet away.

"You're doing it again," Jada said, not looking up from her phone. "The spy mission thing."

"I am not."

"Girl, you're literally watching him like he's a target in a video game. Just go talk to him."

"Absolutely not. Have you met me?"

Maya had it all planned out: observe from a distance, maybe accidentally make eye contact by December, possibly speak to him by spring. Solid plan. Until fourth period when she overheard Chloe talking near the lockers.

"...yeah, Maya told me she thinks he's basic. She was literally making fun of his hair yesterday."

Her stomach dropped. That was complete bull. She'd never said anything like that to anyone.

She spotted Lucas at his locker, his expression weirdly closed off. He'd heard. The words tumbled out before she could overthink them: "That wasn't me. Chloe's talking nonsense."

Lucas looked at her, really looked at her, for the first time all year. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Your hair is actually... kind of amazing." Okay, that wasn't what she meant to say.

He smiled. A real one. "Thanks. You're the one in the beanie, right? From camp?"

Maya pulled off her hat. Her hair sprang out, wild and imperfect and hers. "Yeah. That's me."

"Cool," Lucas said. "See you at lunch."

Jada high-fived her in the hallway. "Spy mission accomplished?"

"Something like that," Maya said, touching her curls. "Something like that."