The Spy Who Sat in the Back Row

Maya felt like a total fraud. Here she was, parked in the back row of the cafeteria, secretly watching the popular table like she was on some kind of covert mission. She wasn't even a real spy—just a girl who'd accidentally left her Instagram account open on the library computer last week, and now she was basically catfishing as someone else.

The worst part? Her hair. She'd spent forty-five minutes this morning trying to curl it like Lila's, but ended up looking like a poodle that had stuck its paw in an electrical socket. So now she was hiding under this giant bucket hat she'd stolen from her dad's closet, feeling like a low-key ninja but probably looking like a complete weirdo.

"Nice hat," someone said.

Maya almost choked on her tater tot. It was Ethan, the quiet skater kid who sat behind her in history. He was holding a cafeteria tray with—wait, was that a cat carrier?

"Thanks," she mumbled. "What's with the... cat?"

"Found him behind the school," Ethan said, sliding into the seat across from her. "His name's Spy."

"You named a cat Spy?"

"Yeah, 'cause he's always watching everything." Ethan peered into the carrier. "Kinda like how you're always watching the popular table."

Maya's face burned. "I am not—"

"It's cool." Ethan shrugged. "I do it too. We're basically the FBI of cafeteria surveillance."

A tiny gray paw reached through the carrier's grate and bapped Maya's arm. Before she could stop herself, she was giggling, then full-on laughing. Her hat slid back, revealing her disastrous hair, and Ethan didn't even flinch.

"Nice curls," he said, completely serious.

"They're a disaster."

"Nah, they're like Spy—got their own personality." Ethan held out his hand. "I'm Ethan, by the way. Official weirdo with the cat."

"Maya." She shook it. "Official spy with the bad hair."

"Wanna help me find Spy's owner after school?"

Maya glanced at the popular table—Lila was laughing at something, totally absorbed in her own world. Then she looked at Ethan, who was scratching a purring gray cat through the carrier door, and realized something important: the best moments weren't the ones you watched from afar.

"Absolutely," she said. "But I'm keeping the hat."