Signal Lost

Jordan's phone died at 2 AM on the worst possible night.

The cabin had no WiFi, obviously, because Jordan's mom had booked this 'nature retreat' to force them to 'make memories.' Whatever that meant. Jordan was supposed to be streaming with the squad tonight—first night of summer, everyone finally online, and here they were, staring at a dead battery and a frayed charging **cable** that had been hanging on by literal threads since October.

'This is actually tragic,' Jordan muttered, testing the cable connection for the fiftieth time. Nothing.

From the bunk below, Maya's voice drifted up. 'You know, people used to survive without TikTok.'

Jordan froze. Maya Chen, straight-A student, swim team captain, the kind of girl who showed up to school in actual outfits instead of hoodies. They'd been in the same homeroom since sixth grade and exchanged approximately twelve sentences total.

'Sorry,' Jordan said. 'Didn't mean to wake you.'

'I wasn't asleep.' Maya's silhouette appeared at the ladder. 'Want me to look at it?'

Ten minutes later, they were sitting on the cabin floor cross-legged from each other while Maya stripped the cable with a pocket knife ('Don't ask,' she said, when Jordan raised an eyebrow) and twisted the copper wires back together like she performed surgery on charging cables for fun.

'Where'd you learn to do this?' Jordan asked, genuinely impressed.

'My dad's an engineer,' Maya shrugged. 'I pick things up.' She paused, like she was weighing something. 'You're in Mr. Harrison's English class, right? The one who assigns those ridiculous essays?'

Jordan laughed. 'The one who called my analysis of The Catcher in the Rye 'painfully contemporary'?'

'Maybe it was,' Maya teased, and something shifted—this effortless, unexpected rhythm between them. 'I read your thing on Instagram about feeling like you're constantly **swimming** upstream just to exist properly. It was... good.'

Jordan felt their face heat up. They posted that at 3 AM thinking literally no one would see it. 'You follow me?'

'I mean, yeah.' Maya met their eyes, something unspoken there. 'Why wouldn't I?'

The moment stretched, charged and fragile, until Maya's phone buzzed with an incoming text. 'Crap. My brother says there's a **bear** outside the cabins again. Third time this week.'

'Wait, literal bear?'

'Yeah, it's cool though, he's basically resident wildlife at this point.' Maya stood up, smoothing her pajama shorts. 'Want to go see?'

'Absolutely not,' Jordan said immediately.

'That's the wrong answer.' Maya grinned, holding out a hand. 'Trust me.'

Jordan took it.

Later—much later, after sneaking out and seeing the actual bear and nearly getting caught by counselors and running back to the cabin breathless with that specific kind of joy that comes from doing something you shouldn't—Jordan's phone miraculously turned on.

Maya: 'You okay?'

Jordan: 'Better than okay.'

Maya: 'Good. Same time tomorrow night?'

Jordan stared at the message, their heart doing something weird and wonderful in their chest. Some signals were worth losing connection for.

Jordan: 'It's a date.'