Neon Orange Heart

Maya's reflection stared back from the bathroom mirror—wild hair the color of a **lightning** strike, newly dyed a violent **orange** that screamed 'look at me' even though she desperately wanted to disappear. The bathroom door muffled the bass thrumming through her cousin's house, where at least fifty people were laughing, dancing, doing whatever normal teenagers did at parties.

'You can do this,' she whispered. 'Just twenty minutes. Then you can bail.'

Her phone buzzed. _where r u??_ from Camila. _Ethan's asking about u_

Ethan. The reason she'd spent two hours transforming her hair. The reason she was hiding in a stranger's bathroom instead of living her supposed 'best life.'

Maya cracked the door open. The hallway was crowded—someone's **dog**, a golden retriever mix, weaved through legs with the confidence Maya would literally kill for. A guy in a backwards hat was feeding it pieces of something from a skewer.

'Is that—' Maya started.

'**Papaya**,' the guy said, grinning. 'Weirdly obsessed with it. Won't touch regular dog treats.'

The dog nudged Maya's hand, and she bent down automatically, anxiety evaporating for a second. Animals didn't care if you said the wrong thing or stood weirdly or had **orange** hair that made you look like a traffic cone.

'She likes you,' said a voice behind her.

Maya straightened up so fast her neck cracked. There he was. Ethan. In an oversized black hoodie and messy curls that should be illegal.

'I—' Maya's brain short-circuited. 'The dog. She's—nice.'

Ethan laughed. Not mean-laughed. Nice-laughed. 'Your hair is sick, by the way.'

'Really?' The word squeaked out.

'Yeah. Kinda looks like **lightning**.' He stepped closer. 'You want to get out of here? The backyard's quieter.'

Maya's heart hammered against her ribs like a **bear** trying to escape a cave. 'I—yeah. Okay.'

They ended up on the porch steps, shoulders barely touching, talking about nothing and everything until the party noise faded to background static. And for the first time all night, Maya didn't want to disappear.

Her phone buzzed again. _r u coming home??_ from her mom.

'Soon,' Maya typed back, smiling at nothing. 'Maybe later.'