Static in the Storm

The sphinx cat perched on Ms. Gable's porch like a wrinkly, hairless philosopher judging my entire existence. I'd been petsitting for three weeks, and Cleo still looked at me like I was failing some unspoken test. Which, honestly, I was failing everything lately—chemistry, my social life, the art of being normal.

"You're doing it again," Maya said, flopping onto my bed while I scrolled through TikTok for the forty-third time that hour. "That zombie thing where you stare at your phone like your brain's been removed."

"I'm not zombie-ing," I protested, though I totally was. Ever since Jordan and his friends had decided I was "too intense" back in September, I'd been operating on autopilot. Show up, keep my head down, disappear into the background noise of high school.

Maya rolled her eyes. "You need to come tonight. The storm's supposed to be insane—like, actual lightning storm insane. Everyone's going to Riley's roof."

I started making excuses, but then Cleo jumped onto my windowsill and let out this weirdly intelligent yowl. Like she was daring me.

So I went.

And maybe it was the way the lightning kept cracking the sky open, turning everything into this strobe-lit dreamworld where nobody could quite see anyone clearly. Or maybe it was just that everyone was huddled in borrowed hoodies, smelling like rain and coconut sunscreen, watching the storm roll across the valley like something alive.

Jordan sat next to me, close enough that our arms touched. "Cool cat," he said, and it took me three seconds to realize he meant the sphinx sticker on my laptop.

"Cleo," I said, then immediately regretted how weird I sounded. "She's... she asks riddles. Sometimes I think she's secretly testing me."

Jordan laughed—really laughed, not that fake performative stuff he did with his friends. Outside, lightning struck somewhere close, the thunder rumbling through the rooftop like the sky was flexing.

"What kind of riddles?" he asked, and for the first time in months, I didn't feel like a zombie going through the motions. I felt like someone who might actually have something interesting to say.

Cleo would approve.