The Spy in the Cafeteria

Maya's palms were sweating. Again. She wiped them on her jeans, leaving dark streaks on the denim, which only made things worse. Because today was the day. Today she would finally talk to him.

Across the cafeteria, Cody sat with his friends—the actual popular kids, not the pretend popular kids like Maya's group tried to be. He wore his signature black beanie, the hat that never left his head except in classes where teachers made him remove it. Maya had been spying on him from afar for three weeks now, cataloging his habits: how he always saved his dessert for last, how he laughed with his whole body, how he sometimes doodled in the margins of his notebook even while talking to people.

"You're doing that thing again," said Jules, sliding onto the bench beside her. "That stalker-eyes thing."

"I'm not stalking," Maya said. "I'm observing. There's a difference."

"Whatever, spy." Jules rolled her eyes. "Just go talk to him already. He's just a person. A person who eats cafeteria spinach voluntarily, apparently."

Maya looked down at her own tray. The spinach salad she'd gotten to look healthy and sophisticated sat untouched, wilting in the artificial light. Great. Now she couldn't even talk to him without having spinach in her teeth. Because that was her life.

"I can't just talk to him," she whispered. "What would I even say? 'Hi, I've been watching you for weeks and I think you're interesting'? That's not normal. That's creepy."

"Then ask him about his hat," Jules said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Everyone asks about his hat. It's conversation starter material."

Before Maya could respond, Cody stood up. And then he was walking toward her. Actually walking toward her. Her heart did that thing where it forgot how to beat properly.

"Hey," he said, stopping at her table. "You're in my English class, right? The one with Mr. Harrison?"

Maya nodded. She couldn't speak. Her vocal cords had apparently quit their job.

"Cool." He gestured to her tray. "You gonna eat that spinach? Because I forgot my lunch money and I'm starving."

She pushed the tray toward him, still not speaking. Cody sat down and started eating her salad, and suddenly he was just a person who made bad lunch decisions, not some untouchable popular god.

"This is actually terrible," he said around a mouthful of spinach. "Why did I think this was a good idea?"

Maya laughed. And just like that, the words came. "I got it to look sophisticated. I think we're both failing at that."

Cody grinned. "Well, at least we're failing together. I'm Cody, by the way."

"Maya."

"Nice to officially meet you, Maya." He took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. "I was wondering if you'd ever actually look at me instead of pretending to look at your phone while spying from across the room."

Maya felt her face burn. "You noticed?"

"Hard not to notice someone who's been watching me for weeks," he said. "I was waiting for you to come say hi. I was starting to think you'd never make a move."

Jules was smirking. Maya's palms stopped sweating. And somewhere in the distance, the universe was definitely laughing at her, but she didn't even care. Because the boy she'd been spying on for three weeks? He'd been waiting for her the whole time.