Screenshot Proof

Maya's fingers shook as she stared at her iPhone screen. The screenshot was blurry but undeniable: her best friend Chloe's crush, Ethan, with his arm around someone who definitely wasn't Chloe. The caption read: "Ethan and I at Jordan's party 😘"

Maya's hair was still wet from swim practice, frizzy and uncooperative—just like her life right now. She'd been playing spy since seventh grade, tracking crush developments like it was her actual job. But this? This was nuclear intel.

"You're not actually gonna show her, right?" Maya's cat Luna hopped onto her desk, nearly knocking over her iced coffee. Luna was her confidant, her ride-or-die, the only one who knew how much Maya liked Chloe's brother—and how guilty she felt knowing this bombshell would crush Chloe.

"Luna, I literally CAN'T with this," Maya groaned, flopping onto her bed. "If I tell her, she'll think I'm being messy. If I don't, I'm fake.

Her phone buzzed. Chloe: "Ethan finally texted me back! He said he was at a 'family thing' Friday."

Maya stared at the ceiling. This was the thing about coming of age: every choice felt like life or death, but adults acted like teen drama was trivial. Like feelings weren't real weapons.

"Fine," she whispered to Luna. "No more spy games."

Maya hit send on the screenshot. Then she tossed her phone across the room like it was radioactive.

Three minutes later, her phone lit up. "Can you come over?"

When Maya arrived, Chloe was crying but not broken. "He gaslit me," she said, wiping her eyes. "You literally saved me from wasting my whole semester on him."

They watched TikToks and ate too much ice cream. Luna purred on Chloe's lap like she'd chosen her all along.

"You're a real one," Chloe said.

Maybe that's what growing up meant—not knowing everything, but choosing to show up anyway. Even when it terrified you.

And maybe spies weren't supposed to have hearts, but Maya figured she'd rather be the girl who told the truth than the one who lived in screenshots.