riddles in the orange grove

Maya's legs burned as she finished her third lap around the track, sweat dripping down her temple. Cross country practice wasn't supposed to be this humiliating, but then again, nothing about sophomore year was going according to plan.

"Nice hustle, Garcia," Coach Miller yelled, barely looking up from his clipboard. Maya flipped him off behind his back and grabbed her orange hoodie from the bleachers. The same hoodie Jordan had left in her locker last Friday, which she'd been "accidentally" wearing ever since.

Her phone buzzed. Three texts from her group chat:

raven: DID YOU SEE JORDAN LOOKING AT U IN HISTORY 💀

chloe: the tension is IMMEASURABLE

maya: y'all are delusional fr

Maya sighed and trudged home, where her goldfish Cornelius awaited his daily dinner. She'd named him in seventh grade when she still thought giving pets human names was peak comedy. Now she just poured the flakes and stared at his glass prison while he stared back, equally unimpressed with her teenage drama.

"You're the only one who understands me, Corny," she muttered, falling onto her bed. "Everyone else expects me to be this sphinx-like mystery girl just because I read books during lunch. I'm not mysterious, I'm just awkward."

Her phone buzzed again. Unknown number.

hey this is jordan from history lol u left ur hoodie in my locker

Maya's heart did that embarrassing flutter thing. The hoodie she'd been wearing for days was actually hers, and Jordan had never even noticed. She was bearing her soul to a guy who thought they were swapping hoodies, not sharing destinies.

On second thought... maybe that was better.

u mean the orange one? she typed back. thot u borrowed mine

lol nah my bad 😅 wanna get boba later and return it properly

Maya stared at the screen, then at Cornelius floating peacefully in his bowl. Maybe high school wasn't a complete tragedy after all.