The Cable Guy Gambit

Maya's bedroom ceiling had a water stain shaped like a crying bear, which felt appropriate given how her week was going. Her former best friend since kindergarten, Chloe, had ghosted her for the theater crowd, leaving Maya stranded in that awkward space between too-cool-for-nerdy-stuff and not-cool-enough-for-the-popular-table.

"Just DM her," her older sister advised from the doorway, adjusting her fedora. "Or you could, like, actually talk to her?"

Maya rolled her eyes. "It's giving desperation, Jordan."

The real problem wasn't just Chloe ghosting her—it was that Maya had accidentally sorta kinda become a social media stalker. Every morning she'd scroll through Chloe's posts, watching her new life unfold: rehearsal selfies, inside jokes with people whose names Maya didn't even know. It wasn't like she was trying to be a total spy, but seeing Chloe thriving without her felt like swallowing broken glass.

Then came the incident: her dad's work laptop got hit with malware, probably from Maya's "research" on sketchy streaming sites. The internet went down. Chaos.

"Maya!" her dad yelled from downstairs. "What did you click on?!"

She was scrolling through Chloe's story (again, judgment free zone plz) when she saw it: Chloe's new crew was planning a group costume for the fall dance, and they'd posted their group chat screenshots—without Maya's older brother's friend Tyler in them, despite him literally being in every photo.

Wait. Tyler was in every photo.

Maya's brain connected the dots like she was finally good at algebra. Tyler worked for the cable company now. Tyler could fix her internet. Tyler owed her a favor from that time she covered for him when he broke their mom's favorite vase.

"Dad!" Maya shouted, grabbing her phone. "I know a guy!"

An hour later, Tyler stood in their living room, wearing a backwards baseball hat and eating their leftover pizza. "Your daughter's lucky I'm basically a genius with routers, Mr. Patel."

"But also," Maya added, "you need a plus-one for Saturday."

"Excuse me?"

"Chloe's group costume? They're doing Grease. They need a Kenickie. I saw the screenshots. And look—" She pulled up Tyler's Instagram. "You already have the leather jacket."

Tyler stared at her. "You found that how?"

"Internet's back, by the way," he said, suddenly very interested in his pizza. "And fine. You're coming too. Wear something pink."

"Deal."

That night, Maya's phone buzzed. A DM from Chloe: "tyler told me about the cable thing lol wild. u still coming to the dance??"

Maya grinned at her bear-stained ceiling. Sometimes being a little obsessed worked out. "Bet. Pink shirt, right?"