Palm Sweat & Prom Chaos

Maya's palms were sweating through her emergency backup napkin. Again.

"You good?" Jaz asked, chewing gum with her mouth open. "You look like you're about to barf."

"I'm fine," Maya lied, palming another napkin from her clutch. "Just... pre-prom jitters."

Her phone buzzed. Tyler: *can't make it 2nite. something came up.*

Maya stared at the screen. Something always came up with Tyler. He was full of it—total **bull**, every time. She'd wasted three months on this dude.

"Oh damn," Jaz said, reading Maya's face like a billboard. "He bailed? That's wack."

Maya's throat tightened. She'd spent her entire savings on this dress. Her mom had forced her to take those weird hair-and-nail **vitamin** gummies for weeks so her nails wouldn't chip. And now? Standing outside the gym alone while everyone else paired off like it was Noah's Ark up in here.

Then she saw him.

Lucas. The quiet kid from her bio class. The one who drew foxes in the margins of his notes and never spoke to anyone. He was leaning against the wall near the entrance, looking about as uncomfortable as she felt.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Maya walked over.

"Hey," she said. "You, uh, going in?"

Lucas blinked. "Probably not. Don't really do dances."

"Me neither," Maya said. "Wanna get out of here instead?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yeah. I know this spot. Good views."

They ended up at the old elementary school playground, sitting on the swings as the sun went down. A stray **cat** watched them from the top of the slide, judging their life choices.

"So why'd you ask me to leave?" Lucas asked, kicking at the dirt. "You could've gone with anyone."

Maya looked at her hands, steady now for the first time all night. "Sometimes the person you plan everything with isn't the person you actually have fun with."

Lucas smiled—small, genuine, perfect. "Yeah. I feel that."

As they sat there talking about everything and nothing, Maya's palm found Lucas's in the dark. And somehow, this wasn't the prom night she'd planned. But it was exactly the one she needed.