The Bear in the Corner

Maya's palms were sweating. Like, actually dripping. She clutched the plastic cup of lukewarm **orange** soda like it was a lifeline, which honestly, it kinda was. Jordan's basement party was everything she usually avoided: too loud, too many people from school, way too much potential for awkward moments.

"You good?" Leo appeared beside her, wearing that **fox**-patterned hoodie he refused to retire because 'vintage is in, Maya, look it up.'

"Just vibing," she lied. "Totally chilling."

"You've been standing next to the coat rack for twenty minutes."

"It's a strategic position. I can see everything from here."

He laughed, but not in a mean way. Leo was like that — annoying, but decent annoying. "Come on. There's literally a charging **cable** by the couch. We can plug in your phone and pretend we're doing something important."

Maya hesitated. Her phone was at 12%, which was giving her anxiety, but social interaction was worse. Except... maybe it wasn't. Maybe staying in her corner all night, watching everyone else have moments and inside jokes and whatever else happened at parties, was actually more painful than five minutes of awkward conversation.

"Fine," she said. "But if someone asks me what I'm doing this weekend, I'm literally leaving."

"Deal."

They ended up on the back porch, which was empty except for a potted **palm** tree that looked like it had seen better days. The air was cooler out here, thick with crickets and distant laughter from inside. Maya leaned against the railing and finally took a sip of her soda.

"So," Leo said. "This party's kinda mid, right?"

Maya snorted. "So mid. But at least the soda's... orange."

"Valid."

They sat in comfortable silence for a minute, and Maya realized something: she was actually okay. Not great, not suddenly party-girl transformed, but okay. The crushing pressure to be something else had loosened, just a little.

"Hey, thanks for the rescue," she said.

Leo shrugged. "Someone had to save you from that coat rack. It was getting weird."

Maya laughed, and this time it was real. Her palms weren't sweating anymore. The night stretched ahead, full of possibility, and maybe — just maybe — she could handle it.