The Orange Backpack Operation

My palms were sweating so bad I could barely grip my phone, which was low-key pathetic. Standing behind Jaden at the boba shop, I was literally vibrating with nervous energy. My best friend Ava had appointed herself as my personal spy, practically stalking Jaden's every move since I confessed my massive crush last week.

"His backpack," Ava had texted me, sending a grainy spy photo. "Notice anything different?"

I'd stared at that picture like it was the Zapruder film. Jaden's usual black backpack was now a bright orange monstrosity that honestly kind of slapped.

Fast forward to me accidentally-on-purpose bumping into him today, sending both our phones flying across the floor. Total disaster mode, right? But when I grabbed what I thought was my phone and saw the lock screen—my face, from a photo I didn't even know existed—I nearly passed out.

"Sorry!" We both said simultaneously, reaching for the wrong devices.

That's when I saw it. On his actual phone background: me at the winter formal, looking awkward but happy. And tucked into his orange backpack pocket: those exact same vitamin gummies I'd been posting about on my finsta, the ones that supposedly help with "stress and chill vibes."

"You take the peach ones too?" he asked, kinda shy. Which is insane because Jaden Reyes, varsity soccer captain, does not do shy.

"Only when I'm spiraling," I admitted.

"Me too," he said. "Usually before games. Or before talking to someone I've been low-key obsessing over for months."

Wait. WHAT.

Turns out, while I was busy conducting my amateur surveillance operation, convinced I was invisible and uninteresting, Jaden had been doing his own recon. The orange backpack? A total flex to catch my attention. The vitamin gummies? He'd been following my finsta so hard he knew my exact brand preferences.

We sat there on the boba shop floor, surrounded by spilled boba and two very confused baristas, and discovered something wild: sometimes the person you think isn't noticing you is actually hyper-fixating just as hard.

"Your phone," I said, finally handing it back. Our fingers brushed and I swear I saw actual sparks. "And for what it's worth, I noticed the orange backpack first."

"I know," Jaden said, grinning. "Ava told me you would."