The Girl Who Watched

Maya had perfected the art of being invisible. cafeteria table near the trash cans, earbuds in, eyes down. The perfect background character in a movie where someone else played the lead.

Until Chloe, the girl whose Instagram stories basically counted as school currency, slid into the seat across from her.

"I need you to spy on someone," Chloe said, like she was asking Maya to pass the salt.

Maya almost laughed. "Me? I'm literally nobody."

"Exactly." Chloe flipped her perfect blond hair. "Nobody notices you. Which makes you perfect for this."

The target was Riley — Chloe's ex-best-friend, now public enemy number one since she'd started dating Chloe's ex. Chloe wanted intel. Was he cheating? Was she trash-talking? Maya's job was to find out.

Maya's actual friend, Leo, thought it was a terrible idea. They'd been sitting on Maya's bedroom floor, Leo attempting to teach her guitar (she had zero musical talent, he had zero patience) when she told him.

"So you're gonna become some kind of low-rent private investigator?" Leo raised an eyebrow. "What's next, trench coat and fedora?"

"It's just observing," Maya said, though she felt weird about it. "And Chloe says she'll put in a good word with the theater group if I do it."

Leo's face fell. Maya had been trying to get into the fall play since freshman year.

"Dude, you're letting her use you." Leo set down his guitar. "Real friends don't make you spy on people."

"Since when are you the expert on real friends?" The words came out sharper than she meant. Leo's face shut down, and she immediately felt terrible. He was the only person who actually saw her.

The spy gig started simple enough. Maya sat closer to Riley's table. "Accidentally" overheard conversations. Reported back to Chloe, who rewarded her with nods and maybe-somedays and one very awkward makeover session where she talked Maya into cutting her waist-length hair into a bob.

"You actually have a great face," Chloe said, examining her work. "Why do you hide it?"

Maya stared at her reflection. She looked different. Not invisible anymore.

But something felt wrong. The spy reports were becoming meaner. Chloe wanted dirt, not just information. And the more Maya hung around the popular crowd, the less she saw Leo. Their guitar lessons stopped. Their daily texts became weekly.

The breaking point came when Chloe asked Maya to follow Riley and her boyfriend after school. "Just see where they go. Take pictures if you can."

"I'm not a creep," Maya said, finally seeing it. The hair, the spy gig, the promises — none of it was about helping Maya. She was just a tool.

"Fine." Chloe shrugged. "I'll find someone else. Hair looks good, though. Maybe someone else will notice now."

The next week, Maya found Leo at their usual spot behind the gym. "I'm sorry," she said. "I was trying to be someone I'm not."

Leo looked at her new haircut and smiled. "I noticed you a long time ago. You just forgot to notice yourself."

Maya realized she'd been spying on the wrong person. She should've been watching herself — figuring out who she actually was when nobody was looking.