The Last Friday Night

Maya clutched the plastic **sphinx** statue so hard its wings dug into her palm. It was literally the worst thing her mom had ever purchased from that weird Egyptian gift shop—actually, no, the second worst. The pyramid-shaped paperweight took first place.

"You're not even listening to me," Alex said, flopping onto her bed. His voice cracked mid-sentence, which would have been hilarious if they weren't having, like, a moment.

"I am listening. You're just wrong about everything."

"Maya. Be real. Jake is not gonna ask you to homecoming. You've been simp-ing over him since September."

The room felt suddenly too small, the walls closing in like they did every time someone mentioned Jake and his stupid perfect hair and his stupid perfect smile and his stupid perfect inability to notice Maya existed.

"I'm not simp-ing," she snapped. "And at least I'm not obsessed with becoming TikTok famous by doing literally nothing."

Alex's face fell. "Whatever. I'm out."

The door clicked shut. Maya buried her face in her pillow. She hated fighting with him. They used to be close—like, actual friends who talked about real stuff. Now everything was a competition, every conversation a minefield of teenage angst and unsaid words.

Her phone buzzed. Heart racing, she grabbed it.

Unknown number: Hey, it's Jake. From history? Alex gave me your number.

Maya nearly dropped her phone. WHAT.

Jake: kinda random but I saw your Egypt presentation today and it was actually really cool

Jake: you seemed super nervous but you knew everything

Jake: also your sphinx project looked sick, no cap

Maya stared at the screen. This had to be a prank. This was the kind of thing that happened in movies, not to regular people whose biggest achievement was getting a B+ on a math test.

She replied anyway.

Maya: lol thanks

Jake: no fr, I was gonna ask if you wanted to study for the test together? The pyramid stuff is actually confusing me

Maya's heart did a full gymnastics routine. Study. With Jake. The Jake.

Maya: yeah for sure

Jake: aight bet, Saturday at the library? 2?

Maya: sounds good

She flung herself backward onto her bed, screaming into her pillow. Alex knocked on her door half-open.

"You good? I heard screaming."

"Jake's asking me to study with him," Maya whispered, still not believing it was real.

Alex's jaw dropped. "FR?"

"FR."

They stared at each other for a second, then started cracking up. Not like fake laughter, but actual laughter—the kind they used to share before everything got weird and complicated.

"Okay but for real," Alex said, finally serious. "If he stands you up, I will literally **bear** maul him. No hesitation."

Maya snorted. "You'd get destroyed."

"I'd take an L for you. Just this once."

And just like that, things weren't perfect but they were something. Maya still had a plastic sphinx statue on her dresser that gave off major cursed energy. Jake might stand her up on Saturday (probably would, actually). Alex was still planning his road to internet stardom.

But for the first time in months, Maya felt like maybe things would actually work out. Maybe high school wasn't just four years of awkward moments and almosts.

She picked up the sphinx statue, considered throwing it in the trash, then put it back on her dresser. Whatever. It was staying. Jake had noticed it, after all.

Tiny win.