Signal Lost

Maya stared at her cracked iPhone screen, thumb hovering over Jake's story. He'd posted something—she could see the pink circle—but her WiFi lagged like it was personally victimizing her. The fiber optic cable attached to the wall had frayed again, probably because her little brother kept tripping over it during his Fortnite dances.

"Ugh, can someone fix the internet?" she groaned, grabbing her denim bucket hat from the bedpost. The hat was her armor—perfect for hiding bad hair days and the occasional eye roll.

"Did you take your vitamin?" her mom called from downstairs, because apparently at sixteen, Maya still needed reminders about basic nutrition.

"Yes, Mom!" Maya lied, grabbing the papaya smoothie she'd prepped because #wellness looked good on Instagram. Even if she secretly hated how tropical fruit tasted like soap.

Today was the first day of sophomore year, and Maya had spent all summer carefully curating her aesthetic. The hat. The vintage band tee. The attitude. She was going to be mysterious and artsy this year, not the girl who still cried about homework.

Her phone finally loaded Jake's story. It was a photo of HER old Tumblr account from middle school. The one where she'd written cringey fanfiction about vampires.

Maya's stomach dropped. He'd found it. He'd SCREENSHOT it.

Her iPhone buzzed. Jake: "ur writing was actually kinda fire tho lol"

She typed and deleted three responses before finally sending: "delete that rn or I will end you"

"nope 😉"

Maya groaned and shoved her phone in her pocket. So much for mysterious and artsy. So much for the perfect comeback year. She was still the same girl who wrote vampire fanfiction and lied about taking her vitamins.

But as she walked to school, sipping her papaya monstrosity and adjusting her hat, her phone buzzed again.

Jake: "seriously tho, u wanna write lyrics for my band?"

Maya stopped walking. Maybe this year wouldn't be about reinventing herself. Maybe it would be about owning every embarrassing, weird part of who she was—even the vampire fanfiction.

She typed back: "only if u promise to never mention the vampires again"

"deal"

Maya smiled, adjusting her hat. The cable at home was still broken. Her smoothie still tasted like soap. But for the first time, her signal felt totally clear.