Social Media Safari

Jordan's phone buzzed on the cafeteria table—another notification from the school's anonymous gossip app. Being the unofficial self-appointed **spy** of sophomore year meant knowing who hooked up with whom before second period even started. It was exhausting, honestly.

The new girl, Maya, sat across from her, unbothered. Maya had this weird confidence, like she didn't care that the entire friend group had iced her out since September. Jordan caught herself **bear**-ing the weight of everyone's expectations again—laugh when they laugh, post what they post, become whoever they needed.

"You're staring," Maya said, not looking up from her sketchbook.

Jordan's face burned. "Sorry. Just... you're really good at drawing."

That's when it happened—Maya's phone lit up with a notification. She groaned. "My **cat** won the school pet contest. Again."

"Wait—THAT was your cat? The one with the tiny hat?" Jordan couldn't help it. She laughed. "That thing went viral. Everyone's talking about it."

"Yeah, my brother posts her everywhere. It's embarrassing." Maya flipped the page. "What about you? What's your thing?"

Jordan paused. What WAS her thing? She was just... everyone's thing. The group chat admin. The birthday party planner. The person who made sure **dog**-piling didn't happen in their friend group's discord server.

"I don't really have one," she admitted. "I just... facilitate."

Maya looked up, really looked at her, with these amber eyes that seemed to see everything. "You know what my grandma says? 'Don't be a **fox** chasing every rabbit.' Figure out what YOU want, not what everyone else wants you to be."

Jordan sat with that the rest of lunch. By the time she walked to fifth period, she'd posted something real on her finsta—no filter, no carefully calculated caption. Just her. Her phone went crazy, but for the first time, she didn't care what anyone thought.

Sometimes the scariest thing isn't being yourself. It's realizing you never actually were.