Papaya Midnight

The beanie pulled down to my eyebrows was supposed to be my invisibility cloak, but at Jessica's end-of-summer party, it just screamed I don't belong here. I leaned against the kitchen counter, clutching a red Solo cup like it contained the secrets of the universe instead of lukewarm soda.

"Come on, just try it." Jessica's cousin Rafael pushed a bowl of sliced fruit toward me. "It's papaya. Your loss if you don't."

I'd never had papaya. My house was more Cheerios and takeout boxes than tropical anything. But I was sixteen now, supposedly reinventing myself, so I grabbed a slice.

"Okay, spy girl." My best friend Marcus appeared beside me, practically vibrating with gossip energy. "Did you see who just showed up? Tyler. In snapback. And—get this—he's actually talking to people without looking like he wants to die."

Tyler, who I'd been lowkey stalking on Instagram for three months. Tyler, whose existence basically powered my late-night overthinking sessions. This was supposed to be MY moment to finally talk to him in person, not watch him shine from across the room like I was some creep behind a one-way mirror.

Outside, lightning cracked the sky open. The backyard floodlights flickered, then died completely. Partygoers screamed like this was a horror movie instead of just summer weather. Someone's phone flashlight beam cut through the darkness, landing right on me—still holding my papaya slice like an idiot.

Tyler was suddenly there, illuminated by someone else's flashlight beam. "That stuff's actually pretty good once you get past the—" He gestured at the fruit. "—weird texture."

I swallowed. "Yeah. It's... interesting."

"You're the one who's always at the library," he said. "With the vintage backpack."

"That's me. Library girl. Vintage backpack girl. Girl who eats papaya in the dark now, apparently."

He laughed, and whatever cool-kid armor I'd imagined him wearing wasn't there at all. Just another person figuring stuff out. The storm raged outside, but inside, something else sparked—something way less dramatic than lightning but infinitely more terrifying.

"Want to try this?" I held out the bowl. "Warning: it might change your life."

He took a slice. "Challenge accepted."

Maybe the hat hadn't been my disguise after all. Maybe I'd just been hiding in plain sight, waiting for the lights to go out so I could finally be seen.