The Mythology Project Disaster

Maya's hair refused to cooperate. It was picture day AND the day of her English presentation, and naturally, her curls had staged a rebellion. She spent twenty minutes fighting with the flat iron until her mom's cat, Luna, decided to jump on the bathroom counter and knock over her favorite expensive hairspray.

"Luna, seriously?" Maya groaned, rescuing the bottle. The cat just blinked slowly, completely unbothered, like the tiny sphinx she was—mysterious, judgmental, and entirely indifferent to Maya's suffering.

Her phone buzzed. Group chat blowing up.

Jordan: DID U HEAR

Jordan: PARKER AND AISHA BROKE UP

Taylor: no way

Taylor: that was random af

Maya sighed. Her friends were obsessed with drama she couldn't care less about. She had bigger problems—like the fact that she'd procrastinated on her mythology project for weeks and now had to present something that wasn't terrible in front of the entire class. Including Tyler, who sat behind her in third period and whose smile made her brain short-circuit.

She grabbed her laptop and the HDMI cable she'd borrowed from her dad. Please let it work. Please don't let me look like a clown in front of everyone.

Her little brother's dog, Buster, chose that exact moment to start barking at absolutely nothing from the backyard. Because that's what brothers' dogs did—they existed to create chaos at the worst possible moments.

"MAYA!" her mom yelled from downstairs. "YOUR RIDE'S HERE!"

Maya stuffed everything into her backpack, threw on her jacket, and pretended her hair didn't look like she'd stuck her finger in an electrical socket. Whatever. She'd own it. The messy aesthetic was a vibe, right?

When she got to school, the hallway buzzed with the same old energy—lockers slamming, people shouting across the crowed, someone blasting music from their phone. Normal. Safe.

Then she saw Tyler.

"Hey," he said, falling into step beside her. "You ready for the presentation?"

"Not even close," Maya admitted.

"Same." He grinned. "I'll trade you—I'll help you figure out the sphinx riddles if you help me with the PowerPoint transitions?"

Her stomach did that annoying flutter thing. "Deal."

Maybe today wouldn't be a disaster after all.