Vitamin Water & Fox Mulder

Maya hesitated, then sighed. "Okay, so remember how I said I was gonna ask Jay to homecoming?"

"Yeah. Like, two months ago. Before you started acting like a fox—clever, mysterious, and completely terrifying."

Maya felt her face burn. "I'm being smart. I've been doing research. Quinn told me Jay's in AP Bio, right? So I've been... observing."

"Observing."

"Yes. Observing. From a distance."

"Spying, you mean."

"It's not spying if it's for educational purposes!" Maya protested. "Anyway, I noticed he always drinks this specific vitamin water during third period. Orange mango. So I bought one. I was gonna—"

"—offer it to him?" Jordan interrupted. "Maya, that's not smooth. That's... actually kind of unhinged. What if he's allergic? What if he thinks you're weird? What if—"

"—what if he says yes?" Maya finished quietly.

They stood there for a moment. The bell rang. Third period started in four minutes.

"You know what's funny?" Jordan said finally. "You're over here orchestrating this whole thing when Jay literally asked about you yesterday in math."

Maya froze. "What."

"Yeah. He asked if you were going to the football game Friday. I told him you'd probably be there, doing your fox thing."

"You WHAT?"

"I mean, I didn't call it that. I just said you'd be there." Jordan grinned. "Also, he likes strawberry lemonade. Just so you know."

Maya looked down at the orange mango bottle in her hand. "I'm going to throw myself into the sun now."

"Nah. Just... maybe talk to him like a normal person? It's wild, but it just might work." Jordan checked their phone. "Also, we're gonna be late."

Maya took a breath. "Yeah. Okay. Normal person. I can do that."

"Cool. Cool plan." Jordan started walking, then turned back. "Hey Maya?"

"What?"

"Next time you want to spy on someone, maybe don't do it in the middle of the hallway. Just a thought."

Maya groaned, but she was already smiling. She tossed the vitamin water into the nearest recycling bin—smooth, like she'd planned it all along—and followed Jordan toward the classrooms. Somewhere in the distance, a real fox darted across the football field, swift and clever and completely unbothered by teenage drama.

Maybe there was something to that.