Signal Lost

The cable was out again. Of course. The one night Jordan finally worked up the courage to DM Skylar about the physics project, and the universe decided to cut her off completely.

She'd been basically low-key spying on Skylar's socials for weeks now—okay, maybe more than weeks. Since homecoming. Her sister called it "doing research." Jordan called it necessary information gathering before making a complete fool of herself. Again.

"You're being creepy," Mia had said earlier, scrolling through TikTok on Jordan's bed like she owned it. "Just slide into the DMs like a normal person."

"You don't understand. He's different."

"He's a sixteen-year-old boy who plays lacrosse and posts way too many sunset pics. He's not different."

But Jordan knew better. She'd been watching from the edges of everything since seventh grade, when she accidentally overheard Skylar talking to his friends about how he actually hated sports but played because his dad was obsessed. That was the thing about Skylar—he was performing this whole life that wasn't even his.

Just like Jordan was performing hers.

The lightning flashed outside her window, illuminating the absolute disaster of her room. She could feel the thunder coming. Her phone battery was at 8%. No cable meant no WiFi, which meant she was stranded in her own bedroom with nothing but her spiraling thoughts.

Then her phone lit up with a notification. Skylar had posted something new.

Jordan's heart did that stupid fluttery thing it always did. She tapped on it, praying the weak cellular signal would load it.

It wasn't a sunset pic. It wasn't a lacrosse highlight. It was just the back of someone's head—some person sitting alone on the bleachers during lunch, reading a book while everyone else sat at their assigned tables. The caption read: "This is actually me."

Jordan stared at it. That person on the bleachers? That was her.

Her phone buzzed. A DM from Skylar.

"Hey so I know the cable is out at your place because I low-key monitor when people from school go offline (okay that sounds creepy I swear I'm not weird) and I figured you'd be bored and also I've been trying to figure out how to talk to you since homecoming but I'm terrible at this and also your physics project idea was actually way better than mine so maybe we could work together unless that's weird in which case forget I said anything"

Jordan started laughing. Actual laughing, the kind where you can't stop and your stomach hurts and tears are coming out.

Outside, the lightning flashed again, but it didn't matter. She wasn't in the dark anymore.