Palm Readings & Lightning Strikes

Maya's palms were sweating so much she could barely grip her phone. Standing outside Kyle's house party, she tugged her beanie lower, wishing she could disappear entirely. But Jake was already there, leaning against the porch railing with that crooked grin that made her stomach do backflips.

"You coming in, zombie girl?" he teased. "Or are you gonna stand out here all night?"

"Shut up," she muttered, but she was smiling. "I haven't slept in three days. AP exams are literally killing my soul."

Inside, the party was chaos. Someone had spiked the punch with vitamin C gummies as a "health-conscious" joke, and the kitchen was full of people pretending to be affected. Maya found herself pressed against the wall while Jake disappeared to find drinks.

That's when she found her—Lena, the girl from Spanish class, sitting in the corner with a crystal ball and a velvet cloth.

"Palm reading?" Lena asked, half-joking but totally serious. "Five bucks, or just tell me your deepest secret."

Maya hesitated, then sat down. What did she have to lose?

Lena traced the lines on Maya's palm with surprisingly gentle fingers. "You're going to do something huge tonight. Something... electric."

"Yeah right," Maya said. "I can barely talk to boys without embarrassing myself."

"Not that kind of electric," Lena said, and just then, lightning flashed outside, illuminating everything in stark white light. The power went out. Someone screamed. Jake materialized out of the darkness, phone flashlight pointed at the ceiling like he was performing surgery.

"Maya?" he called, and she could hear the nervousness in his voice. "You okay?"

Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might explode. This was it—the moment she'd been waiting for all semester. She stood up, leaving Lena and her crystal ball behind, and walked toward Jake's light through the darkness.

"Yeah," she said, and her voice didn't even shake. "I'm good. Better than good."

And then she took off her hat, let her messy hair tumble down, and finally stepped into the light.