Palm-Sweat Prophecies

Maya's palms were sweating — like, ACTUAL drips rolling down her hands. She wiped them on her jeans for the third time, probably leaving visible wet spots. Great. Just what she needed when the cutest junior in school was walking toward her.

"Hey, you're running for student council rep, right?" Liam asked, flashing that smile that made half the sophomore class forget basic English.

"Yeah! I mean — yeah, totally." Maya internally winced. Smooth. "Why? You thinking of running against me?"

He laughed, and Maya's stomach did that annoying fluttery thing. "Nah, just curious. I heard you're, like, actually gonna make some changes around here."

The bell rang. Saved by the literally most annoying sound in existence.

Later that night, Maya stared at the ceiling, phone glowing in her hand. Her little sister's oversized teddy bear sat on her desk — a ridiculous fluffy thing with one eye that kept falling off. Sasha had made Maya "bear-sit" it during her sleepover, which was whatever, except now Maya was low-key becoming attached to Mr. Wuzzy-Kins.

She grabbed her phone, opening the group chat.:

maya: guys liam talked to me today

Jaz: DETAILS???

Chloe: bet he's flirting

maya: he asked about student council

Jaz: that's LITERALLY flirting

maya: is it though???

Maya's palms started sweating again. She was overthinking everything. Probably.

The next day at the school carnival, Maya found herself at a fortune teller booth. Because obviously. The lady grabbed her hand, tracing lines across her palm with way too much intensity.

"You're bearing a heavy burden," the fortune teller said dramatically. "Something you're hiding... something connected to your childhood."

Maya froze. HOW did she know about Mr. Wuzzy-Kins?

"And running... you're running from something. Or maybe toward something." The lady peered at her. "Either way, you need to stop running and face it."

Maya pulled her hand back, suddenly weirdly emotional.

That afternoon, Liam found her sitting alone on a bench.

"Hey, you okay?" He sat beside her, not too close but not too far either. Perfect distance.

"Yeah. Just... thinking about stuff."

"Student council stuff?"

"Everything stuff."

He nodded, like he actually got it. "You know what? I bet you're gonna crush it. Like, you're actually passionate about making changes, not just doing it for college apps or whatever. That's rare."

Maya looked at him, really looked at him. "You think?"

"I know."

Her palms weren't sweating anymore.

That night, Maya texted the group chat:

maya: so i might be kinda sorta maybe crushing on liam

Jaz: WE KNEW

Chloe: FINALLY

Maya smiled, setting her phone down. Mr. Wuzzy-Kins stared back at her with his one good eye. She grabbed him, hugged him tight, then texted back:

maya: and yes i'm still sleeping with the bear judge me idc