Market Crash

The bull in my chest was doing backflips. Actually, scratch that—more like a whole rodeo of bulls, plus a bear or two for good measure.

"You got this, Leo," Maya whispered, elbowing my ribs. "Just talk to him like a normal human being. Not like he's the NASDAQ composite index and you're about to go short."

Easy for her to say. Maya could charm her way out of a detention slip. Meanwhile, I was actively calculating my social credit score while my palms sweated through my favorite thrifted hoodie. The hoodie. The one that made me look effortlessly aesthetic instead of like I'd been up all night watching crypto charts.

Across the cafeteria, Tyler laughed at something. His hair did that thing. The thing where it fell across his forehead and I temporarily lost the ability to form coherent sentences.

"You're literally staring right now," Maya hissed. "Not subtle. At all."

I jerked my eyes back to my tray. The cafeteria pizza remained aggressively mediocre, mocking me.

"I'm gonna do it," I said, then immediately reconsidered every life choice that led to this moment.

"DO IT."

Then my phone buzzed. Mom. "Cat got out again. Lightning storm coming. Come home ASAP."

The universe had a sick sense of humor.

"I can't," I groaned, grabbing my backpack. "Emergency. Actual emergency."

"That's what they all say." Maya smirked, but her expression softened when she saw my face. "Go. Morto can survive another day."

Running home, the sky turned that bruised purple color that meant serious weather. My sneakers slapped against pavement, my backpack thumping against my spine with every step. The first drops hit when I was three blocks out—cold, fat, determined.

Found Bastian under the neighbor's porch, miserable and soaked. The thunder that shook the windows an hour later? Totally worth it for the way he purred against my chest, warm and solid and uninterested in my tragic lack of game.

"You're better than boys anyway," I told him, scratching behind his ears as he draped himself across my keyboard. "Boys can't even compete."

My phone lit up. Unknown number.

"Hey, this is Tyler. Maya said something came up? Everything good?"

I stared at the screen. The bear and the bulls in my chest suddenly went quiet.

Yeah. Maybe I had game after all.