Paw Prints on My Palm

The lunch table went dead silent when Maya slammed her hand down next to my tater tots.

"Okay, palm reader," she said, eyes glinting with that specific chaos energy that meant I was about to regret everything. "Read my destiny."

I groaned. "Maya, I literally made that up last week to get out of presenting my history project."

"But you were SO convincing!" She wiggled her fingers. "C'mon, best friend. Just one reading. For old times' sake."

I'd started the palm reading thing as a joke—a way to distract Mr. Henderson with some made-up nonsense about life lines and fate instead of discussing the Industrial Revolution. But somehow it had spread. Now half the sophomore class thought I could see their future in their hands.

Which was exactly how I ended up at Jessica Nguyen's house party on Saturday night, surrounded by popular kids I'd never spoken to, holding her golden retriever's paw.

"So," Jessica said, flipping her hair, "can you actually read Cooper's palm? Or is that not how this works?"

The dog—who had been wagging his tail happily five seconds ago—suddenly decided my orthodontist was going to love him and proceeded to sneeze directly onto my face.

Everyone laughed. I wanted to die.

But then I wiped my face and looked at Cooper's paw—all soft fur and gentle pads, trusting and expecting nothing. And I realized something: everyone at this party was just like Cooper. They were all pretending to know what they were doing, hoping someone would tell them they were on the right track. Even Jessica, with her perfect eyeliner and confident smile.

"Actually," I said, wiping dog snot from my cheek, "Cooper's palm says something pretty important."

The room got quiet.

"It says you're all going to be fine," I told them, and I meant it. "Even when things feel messy and confusing. Especially then."

Later, as Maya and I walked home under streetlights, she bumped my shoulder. "That was actually kind of cool, what you said back there."

"Yeah, well." I smiled. "Sometimes the fakest things turn out to be the most real."