Lightning Strikes Twice

The group chat was blowing up. *Where's Maya?* *She's being so weird lately.* *Did she block me?*

I lay on my bed, phone glowing against my face, feeling like a total fraud. Okay, so technically I'd been sort of "spying"—following Maya's private finsta from a burner account I'd made last month when she started distancing herself. But could you blame me? We'd been best friends since seventh grade, and now she was suddenly too busy for lunch, too tired for weekends, too whatever for anything.

Thunder rattled my window. The storm outside matched the one in my chest.

My hair was a mess anyway—Mom had been begging me to cut it for weeks, but I'd been growing it out since summer. It hung past my shoulders now, a tangled brown curtain I could hide behind. Perfect for feeling sorry for yourself.

*ping*

Maya posted on her finsta. A mirror selfie. I nearly dropped my phone.

Her hair. It was CHOPPED. Like, pixie cut short, and dyed this electric blue that practically glowed. The caption said *new era, who dis* and I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.

Suddenly lightning flashed so bright it lit up my entire room, and I realized: Maya hadn't been distancing herself from me. She'd been distancing herself from who she used to be. From the girl who cared what everyone thought, who never took risks, who stayed small and safe.

I grabbed my phone and called her. Actual voice call, not a text.

"Your hair," I said when she picked up. "It's... kind of iconic."

"You hate it," she said, and I could hear the vulnerability in her voice.

"No, I love it," I said, and I meant it. "I'm actually jealous you had the guts to do something so... you."

"I was scared you'd think it was too much," she admitted. "I was scared everything would change."

"Things already changed," I said. "That's kind of the point of growing up, right?"

The thunder wasn't as scary now. Neither were the things I'd been too afraid to say.

"So," Maya said, and I could hear her smiling. "Want to come over and help me fix the parts I messed up? Also, I might have accidentally bought some extra dye."

"Blue?"

"Obviously."

"I'll be over in ten."