Water Fountain Confidential

By the water fountain on third floor, that's where I held court every lunch period. Not because I was popular — obviously — but because it was the perfect blind spot for watching the kingdom otherwise known as Northwood High.

I'd mastered the art of being invisible. Which is how I noticed Maya, the gorgeous fox of a sophomore who ruled our social hierarchy with effortless precision, slipping behind the bleachers during pep rallies. Like a total creeper, I followed.

What I found wasn't some scandalous makeout session. Maya was crouched in the shadows, sketching in a beat-up notebook with an intensity that made her hands shake. She was drawing Mrs. G — our terrifying chemistry teacher who'd failed half the freshman class — as a literal superhero, complete with **lightning** shooting from her fingertips.

"You spying on me, Cameron?" She didn't even look up.

"I — what? No."

"Chill. I'm obviously spying too." She flipped the page. "I do character designs for this indie game dev. They're basically my heroes."

That was the moment Maya Chen, social royalty and apparent closet nerd, dragged me into her world. We spent the next month collaborating in secret — my writing, her art — creating an entire mythology based on the weird side of Northwood.

The real **lightning** strike came when her abuela brought homemade papaya smoothies to our "secret" meetup in the empty art room. Maya's face went bright red. "Don't judge. Papaya's like, culturally significant or whatever."

"Dude, I love papaya. My mom makes this papaya salad with lime —"

"Wait, YOU'RE the Cameron whose mom owns that Thai place?"

We stared at each other, the realization hitting like physical force. All this time, I'd thought she was out of my league. She'd thought I was judging her from my water fountain throne. We'd both been playing the same game, convinced we were on opposite sides of a line that didn't even exist.

"You're not as slick as you think," she said, grinning. "For a spy, you're kinda obvious."

"You're one to talk, Fox. I saw you hiding behind those bleachers."

"Touché."

Now we sit by the water fountain together, making plans to launch our graphic novel. Being seen isn't so scary when you've got someone who sees you.