Thunder Bear & The DM Spy

Maya's fingers flew across her screen at lightning speed. She was ninety-nine percent sure Tyler was ghosting her, but she needed proof. Hence: Operation Spy.

"You're literally spiraling," said Jenna, flopping across Maya's bed and nearly knocking over the half-finished vanilla latte. "It's been two days. Maybe he's just... busy?"

"Busy? Please." Maya clicked through Tyler's Instagram story for the third time. "He posted at the party. Without me. And I can bear a lot of things, Jenna, but betrayal isn't one of them."

Jenna snorted so hard she choked on her own spit. "Betrayal? Girl, it's a party. You had SAT prep."

"He knew about the SATs! He said—and I quote—'text me when you're done, I'll wait.'" Maya threw her phone onto the duvet. "That was forty-eight hours ago."

"Forty-seven," Jenna corrected automatically. "And you're obsessing. Again."

Maya grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest. Outside, thunder rumbled in the distance, matching the knots in her stomach. "Remember freshman year? When you stopped talking to me for three weeks because I sat with someone else at lunch?"

"That was different."

"Was it?" Maya's voice softened. "I thought I lost my best friend."

Jenna sat up, suddenly serious. "You didn't. You couldn't. But Tyler? You've known him, what, three months?"

The truth of it landed like a physical weight. Maya grabbed her phone again but this time she opened her messages with Tyler. The last text still sat there, delivered but unanswered.

Outside, rain started drumming against the window, a sudden downpour.

"Okay," Maya said. "Okay. I'm done spying." She deleted Instagram from her home screen, just temporarily, but it felt like something.

Her phone buzzed.

Tyler: *hey sorry phone died at the party. sat prep go okay?? want to come over?*

Maya stared at it. Then she looked at Jenna, who was grinning like she knew everything.

"See?" Jenna said. "Not all boys are garbage. Just, like, most of them."

Maya texted back, then tossed the phone onto the bed. "You're right. I'm overreacting. Again."

"Again," Jenna agreed. "But also? You're kind of the worst when it comes to boys."

"Fair." Maya laughed, and for the first time in two days, the knots in her stomach loosened. "Love you though."

"Love you too, weirdo." Outside, lightning flashed across the sky, bright and sudden. "Even if you do need to work on your trust issues."

"Working on them," Maya promised. And she was. One bad friendship habit at a time.