The Signal in the Static

Maya's fingers hovered over her phone screen, the digital glow illuminating her face in the darkness of her bedroom. For three weeks, she'd been living her best friend's life vicariously—spying on Sophie's Instagram stories from her new school across town. It was pathetic, honestly. Sophie was living it up with new friends, looking effortless in every photo, while Maya was still stuck in their hometown, eating the same dinner at the same table every night.

"You need more spinach," her mom said, pushing the bowl toward her. "It's good for your eyes."

Maya rolled her eyes so hard it actually hurt. "My eyes are fine, Mom. I'm literally on my phone all day and I can see perfectly."

"Exactly my point," her mom muttered.

The irony hit her later that night when the cable modem died—again. No internet, no WiFi, no spying on Sophie's supposedly perfect life. Maya stared at the disconnected cable on the floor, that stupid black wire that controlled her entire social existence. Without it, she was just... alone.

She found herself in the kitchen at 2 AM, eating leftover spinach straight from the Tupperware container while sitting on the floor. Cold spinach. In the dark. This was her life now. Sophie was probably at some party with people who had normal names and normal hair and didn't eat vegetables in the middle of the night.

Maya's phone buzzed. Sophie.

"r u up??"

"Yeah. Why? Everything okay?"

"this party sucks lol everyone's pretending 2 be cool. remember when we stayed home watching ur grandma's cable detective shows and eating straight from the fridge?"

Maya smiled, her mouth full of cold spinach. Sophie was pretending too. All those stories, all those perfect moments—maybe they were just edited highlights. Maybe everyone was just winging it, making it up as they went along, trying to look like they knew what they were doing.

"miss u," Maya typed.

"miss u 2. can u video call?"

"no lol my cable died. but that's kinda perfect tbh"

"what if we just go old school? call me?"

Maya reached for the landline they kept for emergencies. The cord was long and tangled, just like the cable on the floor. Some things were better when they were messy anyway.