Signal in the Static

Maya's palms were sweating — like, actually dripping — as she stood outside Lucas's beach house door. Inside, she could hear muffled bass and laughter. Everyone was there. The popular crowd. The people she'd spent all of freshman year watching from across the cafeteria.

She adjusted her baseball cap, turning it backward like she'd seen Lucas do a million times. It was his hat, actually. She'd "borrowed" it last week when they'd been partnered for that chem lab and forgotten to return it. Not that she was trying to hold onto it or anything.

Lucas answered the door, holding an orange soda. "Maya! You made it."

"Yeah, sorry I'm late. Had to help my dad with something."

Something totally lame and uncool, she didn't say.

"No worries, we're actually having a crisis. The cable's out, and we were supposed to watch the game."

Maya followed him inside, where a group of kids sat around a blank TV screen. Someone's parents had this insane setup — floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the water, a pool glowing in the twilight.

"You know about TVs, right?" Lucas asked. "You fixed that projector in Mr. Harrison's room."

That's when it happened — Maya went from socially invisible to the guest of honor. She knelt by the entertainment center, heart hammering. Everyone was watching. Actually watching her.

Behind her, someone cracked open another orange soda. The fizz sound made her jump.

"Loose connection," she said, fingers steady despite everything. The cable had just been jostled loose. She pushed it back in, and the screen flared to life.

"Oh my god, you're actually a genius," Chloe said from the couch. "Sit down, you're literally saving the night."

Maya ended up squeezed between Lucas and the armrest, knee pressing against his, the ocean's salt air drifting through the open sliding door. Every time something exciting happened in the game, the room erupted, and Lucas threw his arm around her shoulders like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Her palms were still sweaty. But for the first time in forever, she didn't care.