The Connection We Make

Maya's phone died at 11:47 PM on a Friday. Not low battery—battery DEAD. The kind of dead where even plugging it in does nothing. And she was in the middle of texting Isaac, the cute sophomore from English class who'd finally noticed her Instagram story.

She was literally panicking. Isaac had just sent "u up?" and now he was gonna think she was ghosting him. That was, like, social suicide. Maya grabbed her sister's charging cable—after checking that Lena was asleep, obviously—but her phone stayed dead. A brick. Useless.

Then the storm hit. Lightning flashed so bright it painted her walls purple, thunder shook her window. This was fine. Everything was fine. She'd just wake up early and explain, right? Maybe.

But her phone was still dead at 7 AM. And 8 AM. By 9 AM, she was spiraling. What if Isaac thought she was playing hard to get? What if he moved on to someone whose phone actually worked? What if—

"You going out?" Her mom leaned against the doorframe, looking amused.

Maya nodded, grabbing her running shoes. She NEEDED to get to Jordan's house. Jordan would let her use her phone. Jordan would understand.

She started running, and she didn't stop. Three blocks. Six blocks. The air was thick, sticky, her legs burning but she kept going because what else could she do? She was fifteen and her entire social life lived in a device she couldn't access and it was maybe the worst thing that had ever happened to her, ever.

She reached Jordan's street just as the sky opened up. Rain poured down like the sky was making fun of her. Lightning cracked—close, too close—and she kept running, water streaming down her face, mixing with tears, whatever, who cared, who could even tell the difference anymore.

Jordan's front door flew open before Maya could even knock.

"What happened to you?!"

"My phone DIED and Isaac texted me and I couldn't answer and now he probably hates me and—"

Jordan pulled her inside, handed her a towel, and said, "Chill. He texted me this morning asking if you were okay."

Maya blinked. "He WHAT?"

"He thought something happened to you because you just stopped responding. So yeah, he basically declared his undying concern for your wellbeing." Jordan grinned. "Also, your sister called. She wants her cable back."

Maya sank onto the couch, soaked and exhausted and happy. Sometimes the worst disasters led to the best surprises. Also, she was definitely keeping Jordan's cable as revenge for stealing her hoodie last week.

"So," Jordan said, nudging her. "You gonna text him back or what?"

Maya's stomach did that fluttery thing that meant she was absolutely, completely doomed. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."