Static in the Air

Maya's palms were literally sweating through her denim skirt as she stood in the corner of Jordan's basement party. Someone had set up a "psychic corner" with cheap scarves and a crystal ball that was definitely from Amazon, and now Chloe—the most popular girl in sophomore class—was reading palms and dramatically gasping at everyone's "future."

"Your turn, girl!" Chloe called, pointing at Maya. Oh god. Oh no.

Maya's phone buzzed in her hand—her mom texting, of course. But what made her face burn hot was that her ratty old bear keychain from childhood swung into view for everyone to see. The same bear she'd had since she was seven, with the missing eye and the fur rubbed bald in spots.

"Awww," someone said. "Is that a teddy bear?"

"I'm literally never living this down," Maya thought, but she forced herself to walk over to the palm-reading setup anyway. Because what choice did she have? If she refused now, she'd look even more lame.

Chloe took her hand and traced the lines with fake-serious intensity. "You're going to be someone completely different than who you are now. Like, lightning's going to strike and change everything."

Maya almost laughed. That was so specific and vague at the same time.

"No, but seriously," Chloe said, suddenly dropping the act. "Why do you still have that bear? Not trying to be mean, just curious."

Maya looked at the beat-up keychain. "My grandma gave it to me before she died. She said I should always keep something that reminds me of being little, because growing up doesn't mean forgetting who you were."

The basement went quiet for a second.

"That's actually really sweet," Chloe said. "My grandma makes me weird ceramic frogs and I pretend to like them but I secretly hate them."

Everyone laughed, but it wasn't mean.

Then, like a sign from the universe, actual lightning cracked outside—close enough that the lights flickered. Thunder rolled through the basement walls.

Maya's palms stopped sweating. She took a breath, really looked around the room at everyone's nervous faces, and realized something: nobody actually knew what they were doing. The popular girl was just pretending. The palm reading was fake. The weird ceramic frogs were universal.

She gripped her bear keychain and smiled. Maybe lightning really did strike. Maybe this was what it felt like to stop waiting to become someone else and just be who she already was.