Three Percent Battery

Maya's palms were sweating — like, actually slick — as she gripped her iPhone against her thigh. 3% battery. Of course. The universe had impeccable timing.

She was at Jessica's party, the first one she'd been invited to all freshman year, and her phone was basically a dying brick in her pocket. No Instagram stories. No Snapchatting her solo cup like she was living her best life. No strategic texting of 'where r u?' to Kai, who she'd been lowkey flirting with in bio for two weeks.

Spinach dip. That was the other problem.

Maya had hovered near the snack table for twenty minutes, working up the nerve to actually talk to someone, and apparently she'd managed to get spinach wedged between her front teeth. She'd caught her reflection in the microwave door and nearly died. How long had it been there? Had she been smiling at people with green stuff in her teeth like some sort of gremlin?

'Hey.'

Maya jumped. Kai. Actual Kai, standing there with his oversized hoodie and that messy dark hair that fell over his eyes sometimes. 'You're Maya, right? From Mr. Harrison's class?'

She nodded, probably too enthusiastically. Her palms were sweating again. She resisted the urge to check her teeth with her tongue.

'Cool party,' he said. 'A lot of people.'

'Yeah,' she managed. 'I'm just... you know. Hanging out.'

Nailed it. Truly scintillating conversation.

Kai shifted his weight. He seemed nervous too, which was weird because he was Kai and she was just Maya, whose phone was at 2% now and would probably die before she could get his number.

'You have something...' He gestured toward his own mouth.

Maya's face burned. She scraped at her teeth with her fingernail, finally dislodging the spinach. 'Oh my god. How long was that there?'

Kai laughed. Not mean-laughed. Actually laughed. 'Since I walked up. I didn't want to say anything and make it weird, but...' He shrugged. 'Now we're both awkward.'

Maya's phone buzzed one last time — that ominous vibration before total shutdown — and she didn't even care.

'So,' Kai said, 'wanna get some air? This dip is kind of intense.'

She grinned, spinach-free this time. 'Absolutely.'