Static in the Silence

Marcus's palms were sweating. Like, actually dripping. He wiped them on his jeans for the third time, glancing around Jordan's basement where half the sophomore class was currently pretending not to notice each other.

"Yo, Marcus!" Jordan called from across the room. "You good with tech, right? The speaker's being weird."

Every eye swung toward him. This was it. The moment. Jordan Chen—actual Jordan Chen, whose Instagram storiesMarcus religiously watched—was talking TO him. Not at him. TO him.

"Yeah," Marcus managed, his voice cracking slightly. Perfect. Absolutely flawless. "I got it."

He made his way to the sound system, acutely aware of how many people were definitely not watching him. The problem was obvious: someone had kicked the aux cable loose. Simple fix. He could do this.

But as he reached for the cable, his hand brushed against someone else's.

"Sorry," said a voice. Maya Rivera. She of the effortlessly perfect winged eyeliner and the confidence Marcus had spent years wishing he could download like an app.

"I got it," he said, then immediately wanted to die. Why was he like this?

She laughed, and it sounded real. "Calm down, bear. It's just a cable."

Bear.

The word hit him like a physical thing. Last summer, his little sister had started calling him that after he'd carried her everywhere when she broke her ankle. But here? Now? From Maya Rivera?

"It's a long story," he muttered, finally plugging the cable back in. Music blasted through the speakers—some mumble rap track that everyone immediately started nodding to.

"I've got time," she said, and the way she said it made something unclench in his chest.

Maybe sweaty palms weren't the end of the world. Maybe being the kind of person who could calmly fix things while everyone else pretended not to panic was actually cool. Maybe—just maybe—Jordan Chen's party wasn't going to be the disaster he'd been mentally rehearsing all week.

"So," Maya said, as the bass thumped against the basement walls. "You gonna tell me about the bear thing, or what?"

Marcus smiled. And for the first time all night, his palms finally dried.