Operation: Invisible Girl

Maya pressed herself against the lockers, phone clutched like a weapon. She wasn't technically a **spy**, but at Riverside High, being the new girl who nobody noticed had its advantages. She'd already mapped out the social hierarchy in three days: the padel court ruled everything—if you couldn't serve a smash, you didn't exist.

Her **cat**, Barnaby, was currently back at her aunt's house probably judging her from behind the sofa. He was the only one who knew her real secret: that she'd transferred schools three times in two years, each time leaving behind another version of herself.

Maya's **iPhone** buzzed. A group chat she wasn't part of, obviously. Some things didn't change wherever you moved: the feeling of watching life happen through a screen while you stood on the outside, pressing your face against the glass like a kid at a candy store window.

"You trying out for padel?" a voice asked.

Maya jumped. It was Leo, the guy whose locker she'd been accidentally memorizing because it was next to her Spanish class. He had really nice eyelashes. Not that she'd noticed three times. Okay, five.

"I don't really... play," she said.

"Neither did I freshman year," he shrugged. "We need a fourth for mixed doubles. You seem observant. That's half the game."

Was he serious? Or was this like that thing where popular kids invited losers to parties as a joke? Her brain felt like a **zombie**—dead but somehow still walking, dragging itself through the same old patterns of overthinking everything.

But then Leo smiled, and it wasn't mean. It was just Leo.

"Practice is today. 3:30. If you're not there, no big deal. But if you are..." He trailed off. "Well, Barnaby would probably want you to make actual human friends."

Her eyes widened. "How do you know my cat's name?"

Leo's phone case had a picture of a very familiar orange tabby. "Barnaby's my cat's cousin. We met at the vet last month."

Maya stood there, frozen, as everything she thought she knew about being invisible at this school shifted. Someone had noticed her. Someone was watching her back.

"3:30," she heard herself say. "I'll be there."

For the first time in three schools, Maya didn't feel like she was undercover. She felt like someone who might actually get to be seen.