The Signal in the Static

Maya's lucky **hat** sat backward on her head, the brim curved perfectly from three years of anxiety-fidgeting. It was basically part of her skull at this point.

"You gonna stare at that **cable** box all night or actually help?" Jordan asked, kicking at the tangle of cords behind Maya's TV.

"Dude, chill. I'm troubleshooting." Maya wasn't troubleshooting anything. She was avoiding. Tomorrow was the first day of sophomore year, and she'd decided—last minute, obviously—to try out for the **baseball** team. Because apparently her brain had signed a suicide pact with her social life.

Jordan raised an eyebrow. "Baseball? Really? You, who once tripped over a literal stationary object?"

"Shut up. I've been practicing."

"Practicing what, exactly? Being terrible?" Jordan flopped onto her bed. "You know everyone's gonna think it's 'cause of what happened with—"

"Don't." Maya's voice came out sharp. Too sharp.

The incident. The one nobody talked about but everyone definitely knew about. The one where Maya had accidentally broadcast her deepest thoughts over the school's PA system during third period last May because someone—cough, Tyler—had messed with the **cable** connection in the office.

Maya had confessed everything. That she thought she was maybe kinda sorta definitely not straight. That she was tired of pretending. That her crush on Maria from chem lab was becoming statistically significant.

The school had gone predictably insane.

"Whatever." Jordan grabbed a controller. "Just saying, the team's gonna eat you alive. That pitcher, what's-his-name? Total **bull** in human form."

Maya snorted despite herself. "He's not that bad."

"He called you 'confused' for like, two weeks straight, Maya. That's not confused energy, that's just..." Jordan shook their head. "Why baseball, though? Seriously?"

Maya stared at her ceiling. "Because I'm tired of hiding. And apparently I need to prove something to myself, or whatever."

"By joining a sports team?"

"By doing something that makes zero sense for me. By being the person who's like, yeah, I came out, AND I play baseball now, what about it?" Maya adjusted her hat. "I don't know. I just... I don't want to be the girl who had one bad thing happen and then disappeared."

Jordan was quiet for a second. Then: "You know Maria's on the softball team, right?"

Maya's face caught fire. "That is literally not relevant."

"Literally so relevant." Jordan's grin was wicked. "The fields are right next to each other. You're gonna be so distracted."

"I hate you."

"Love you too." Jordan threw a pillow at her. "But seriously? You're gonna crush it. Or completely embarrass yourself. Either way, I'm bringing snacks."

Maya smiled, pulling her hat down lower. Some signals didn't need troubleshooting. Some static was just part of the frequency.