Orange Cable Midnight

Kai's fingers hovered over the UNFOLLOW button for the third time that night. Maya had been ghosting him since the cafeteria incident—when she'd literally turned her back mid-sentence to laugh at something Tyler said. Now it was 2 AM, and Kai was "spying" on her Instagram stories like some desperate loser.

Outside his window, Mrs. Henderson's dog—a jittery terrier named Buster—started barking at nothing. Again. Kai groaned and leaned out to yell at it to shut up, when he noticed something weird.

An orange ethernet cable stretched from Maya's bedroom window across the yard, disappearing into the bushes. What.

Kai grabbed his sneakers. Whatever happened to sleep?

He crept downstairs and outside, following the cable through the hedges. At the end, tangled around a tree branch, was Maya's laptop—screen glowing, Discord open.

"What are you DOING?" Kai whispered, stepping into view.

Maya scrambled up from behind the tree, phone in hand. "KAI?!"

"I could ask you the same thing. Why is your computer literally in a tree?"

Maya's face went neon red. "I—my parents took my laptop at 10. I'm supposed to be 'reducing screen time.' But I have a Discord call with our gaming league. Finals are TONIGHT."

"So you ran a cable out your window?"

"It's the only one that reaches! I've been doing this for a WEEK. My dad thinks I'm asleep. Buster barks every time I move—I thought he was gonna expose me."

Kai stared at her, then started laughing. "All this time, I thought you were ditching me for Tyler. You were literally playing Valorant in a tree?"

"Tyler's trash at Valorant!" Maya yelped. "That's not why I've been—" She stopped. "Wait. You thought I was ghosting you?"

"Um, YEAH? You literally walked away mid-sentence last week!"

"Because I saw Tyler do that TikTok thing with the milk and I was CRINGING so hard I physically couldn't look at you or I'd lose it." Maya grabbed his arm. "Kai, I'm not your friend. I'm your BEST friend. Why would I drop you for Tyler 'Can't Land A Headshot' Chen?"

Kai sat down hard in the grass. "Oh my god. I'm an idiot."

"Yeah, you kind of are." Maya plopped beside him. "Wanna help me carry this back before my dad realizes I'm gone?"

"Only if I can join your Discord call."

Maya grinned. "Deal. But you're playing support."