The Friday Night Palm Reader

The uniform hat was ridiculous. Bright orange with the words VITA-WIZARD stretched across the front in Comic Sans. Kai adjusted it for the fiftieth time, feeling the fake cheer radiating off him like toxic gas.

"Dude, you look like you're about to sell me supplements at a rave," Marcus laughed from across the food court.

"Shut up," Kai muttered, arranging another row of vitamin gummies shaped like dinosaurs. "At least I'm making money."

"For what?"

"For getting out of here."

They'd been having this same conversation since sixth grade, when Marcus's older brother had gone away to college and come back transformed—tattooed, philosophical, totally unbothered by what anyone thought. Kai wanted that. Needed that. Especially after last semester, when his existence had become one long exercise in feeling like the wrong person in every room.

His phone buzzed. His mom: "Don't forget your vitamins!"

Kai rolled his eyes so hard it actually hurt. She'd been on a wellness kick since his older sister Maya had left for college, treating Kai like a fragile houseplant that needed constant watering and sunlight.

"The lady at the kiosk is doing palm readings again," Marcus said, nodding toward the far end of the food court where someone had set up a purple velvet cloth and some crystals. "Wanna go?"

"No way. That's scammer stuff."

"Come on. For luck. With Jordan's party tonight?"

Jordan's party. The social event of the season apparently, though Kai had only been invited because Maya had dated Jordan's cousin last year. Still. It was something.

The palm reader was ancient, with silver hair piled in a messy bun and hands that looked like they'd held a thousand stories. She didn't ask for money, just took Kai's hand and traced the lines on his palm with one crooked finger.

"You're waiting for something to start," she said, her voice raspy as dry leaves. "But it already has."

"What?"

"The life you want. You're already living it. Just..." She tapped his palm. "Stop holding your breath."

Kai pulled his hand back, weirdly shaken. "That's it? That's the whole fortune?"

"That's the whole truth." She smiled, showing crooked teeth. "Oh, and your sister says hi."

"Maya?"

"No. The other one. The one you haven't met yet." She winked. "Now go. Your friend is waiting."

Marcus was grinning when Kai rejoined him. "So? What's my future?"

"She said I need to stop waiting to become myself and just... be myself." Kai adjusted the ridiculous hat, then deliberately took it off and shook out his hair. "Also she knows Maya. Somehow."

"Dude." Marcus shook his head. "That's creepy and also kind of awesome."

"Yeah."

"So? Jordan's party?"

Kai looked at the Vita-Wizard hat in his hand, then at the mirror behind the kiosk where he could see his reflection—finally, properly, without the orange brim blocking half his face.

"Yeah," he said, and it came out easier than he'd expected. "Let's go."

The night air felt different when they stepped outside. Not colder or warmer exactly—just different. Like something had shifted, imperceptibly but permanently. Kai took a breath and didn't hold it.

The party would be whatever it was. He would be whatever he was. And maybe, just maybe, that was enough.