Orange Crush Protocol

Marcus pulled his orange beanie down lower, using it like a shield against the cafeteria noise. Freshman year had been one long exercise in feeling like everyone was speaking a different language, and second semester wasn't shaping up to be any better.

Then he saw HER at the usual table—Tyler's crush since September, currently laughing at something Jordan said. Marcus was basically a professional spy at this point. He'd mastered the art of假装 to text while actually observing, gathering intel like his life depended on it. It wasn't creepy if it was for friendship reasons, right?

His phone buzzed. Tyler: "dude what's she wearing"

Marcus squinted. "orange hoodie. same one as friday"

"Classic. Think she noticed me staring in chem?"

"Def not. u were subtle as a cable grenade in a library"

The cable thing had become their thing after Marcus accidentally tripped over that thick ethernet cable in the library last week, sending his backpack flying and launching a singular, tragic grape across the room. Where it landed. On Tyler's shoe. They'd both frozen, made eye contact, and simultaneously decided to never speak of it again.

But somehow it had broken the ice. Now they were actual friends, not just chemistry-lab partners.

"She's looking this way," Marcus typed, heart suddenly racing for reasons that had nothing to do with Tyler's crush. "orange hoodie girl"

Tyler's response came fast: "DUDE. She's coming over. Act natural. What do I do with my hands??"

Marcus watched, suddenly hyper-aware of his own hands, his stupid orange hat, everything. This was it. The moment. He was about to become the world's worst wingman OR the world's most accidental traitor.

The girl stopped at their table. "Hey, you're Marcus, right?"

"Uh, yeah?" His voice squeaked. Fantastic.

"I saw what happened with your backpack last week." She grinned. "The grape incident? Actually kind of legendary."

Wait. WHAT.

"I'm Aisha." She held out her hand. "You seem cool. Want to sit with us?"

Marcus stared, then typed to Tyler: "im supposed to be the spy but I think I just got recruited"