the night everything frayed

Maya's phone buzzed in her pocket again. *Thanks for coming tonight.* From Jax. She'd been staring at that same cable box for twenty minutes, trying to figure out why the movie kept freezing at Leo's house party.

"You good?" Zara asked, flopping beside her on the couch. "You've been stress-cleaning that HDMI cable since you got here."

Maya shrugged. Something felt off. Jax had been weird all week—dodging her texts, leaving their friend group chats on read, canceling their usual boba runs. And now this party, where he'd invited everyone except her actual bestie Sam. Meanwhile, Zara sat there in that eye-searing orange crop top, completely oblivious to how weird everything had become.

Outside, lightning cracked the sky open, making everyone flinch. The TV flickered. Someone cheered too loudly at nothing.

Maya's phone lit up with a notification she wasn't supposed to see. A group chat name she didn't recognize: *Operation Maya.* Before she could process it, the message disappeared—someone had unsent it. But her stomach had already dropped through the floorboards.

They were talking about her. Planning something. SPYING on her?

"Earth to Maya," Zara waved a hand in front of her face. "You've got literal spinach in your teeth, by the way. Since forever."

Maya's face burned. She bolted to the bathroom, phone clutched in her sweating palm. The mirror showed green flecks stuck in her braces—how long had she been walking around like that? How long had everyone been laughing behind her back?

The group chat notification flashed again. This time she caught it: *she's in the bathroom, get ready.*

Her hands shook. They were spying on her. Waiting. For what?

The bathroom door burst open. Jax, Zara, Leo, and three others crowded in, grinning like maniacs.

"SURPRISE!" they screamed.

Maya blinked. Confetti rained down from somewhere.

"We've been planning your surprise early birthday party for literally a month," Jax said, holding up a cake. "You're so impossible to surprise, we had to have coded group chats and strategic distractions." He gestured at the TV. "Leo kept 'breaking' the cable so we'd have time to set everything up."

Zara laughed. "And I was supposed to be the decoy with my obnoxious orange outfit distracting you. But you just kept stressing about that spinach like your life depended on it."

Maya's phone dinged. A real message this time, from Sam: *they told me everything. happy early bday, spy queen.*

Lightning flashed again, and this time Maya didn't flinch. She just grinned so wide her braces flashed, spinach and all.