Stormy Palm Readings

The party was already mid when Maya showed up, fashionably late and rocking a neon pink bucket hat that screamed 'I'm trying too hard but I own it.' The basement was packed with juniors Maya barely recognized, bumping hips to generic trap music that someone definitely found on a 'lit party mixes' playlist.

Maya spotted her best friend Jordan in the corner, dramatically holding court like she always did. But something was off. Jordan's usual crew was gathered around some sophomore doing—wait, was that actual palm reading?

"Dude, your lifeline is literally tragic," the sophomore, whose name Maya thought might be Riley, was saying while examining Jordan's hand under fairy lights strung from the ceiling. "You're gonna have, like, zero romance this year."

"No offense, but that cap," Jordan said, pulling her hand back and gesturing at Maya's arrival, "is doing more for your romantic prospects than whatever juju this girl thinks she has."

Maya flipped the hat's brim up. "It's called fashion, Jordan. Maybe if you paid attention to something besides your tragic lifeline—"

CRACK.

Thunder shook the house so hard the fairy lights flickered. Half the people screamed. The other half pretended they didn't. Outside, lightning lit up the tiny basement windows like paparazzi flashbulbs, turning everything strobe-light weird for a split second.

"Okay that's literally the universe validating my palm reading skills," Riley said, grinning like she'd just predicted the future instead of getting lucky with bad weather.

Maya looked at Jordan. Jordan looked at Maya. They both lost it, laughing so hard Maya's palm hit her forehead.

"Alright, alright," Maya said once she could breathe again. "Read my palm then, if you're so good at it."

Riley took Maya's hand, studied it with exaggerated seriousness while Jordan filmed on her phone. "Hmm. This palm says... you're going to make terrible fashion choices, but somehow make them work? Also, your friend is secretly jealous of your hat."

"Am not," Jordan said.

"Are too."

The storm raged outside, but inside, something shifted. Maya wasn't the new kid anymore. She was the girl with the ridiculous hat and the newfound ability to make Jordan's stuck-up crew laugh at themselves. And Riley? Riley was definitely getting added to the group chat.