What the Palm Knew

Maya tugged the brim of her beanie lower, praying nobody would notice the curly disaster she'd hidden underneath. Three hours of straightening cream and she still looked like she'd stuck her finger in an electrical socket. Typical.

"Fortunes! Get your palm read right here!" Keisha announced dramatically from the basement couch, gesturing with the fake crystal ball she'd bought at Spirit Halloween. Everyone laughed. Maya's heart did that stupid fluttery thing it always did when someone looked at her for too long.

"I'll go first," said Ryan, the new kid with the dimple tattoo and smile that made half the sophomore class forget how to speak.

Maya's palms started sweating. Why did her brain have to pick NOW to remind her that she'd forgotten deodorant? She pressed her hands against her jeans like she could physically push the embarrassment back into her pores.

"Let me see," Keisha said, grabbing Ryan's hand. "Ooh, very interesting. You're going to... pass chemistry AND maybe kiss someone cute before finals."

The group erupted in ooohs. Ryan's eyes flicked toward Maya. Her entire face went radioactive.

"Your turn, Maya-Baya!" Keisha sang, snatching her wrist before she could fabricate a bathroom emergency.

Maya's stomach dropped. She extended her shaking hand. The beanie slipped slightly and a springy ringlet escaped, bouncing against her cheek like it had a personal vendetta against her social life.

"Girl, your hair is literally perfect," Ryan said, like he meant it.

Maya froze. She'd spent six months pretending she didn't have curls at all, terrified they made her look too "much" — too loud, too attention-seeking, too her. But the way he said it, like it was the most obvious thing in the world...

"Now THESE lines," Keisha declared, tracing Maya's palm with exaggerated seriousness. "You're gonna realize something big this year. Something about being real with yourself."

Maya looked at her curly reflection in the mirror across the room. Then back at her hand in Keisha's, at Ryan's honest smile, at the friends who'd somehow become exactly that without her noticing.

She pulled off the hat.