When November Hits Different

Maya dragged herself into homeroom feeling like a straight-up **zombie**. Three nights of Halloween horror movie marathons + zero sleep = mistake. Her eyeliner was smudged, her brain was operating at 20% capacity, and her best friend Kai was already giving her that look.

"You good? You look dead," Kai whispered, sliding over.

"Never better," Maya lied, clutching her iced coffee like a lifeline. "Just vibrating on a different frequency today."

The real issue wasn't the lack of sleep though—it was Jordan. Jordan, who sat two rows away, embodying maximum mystery energy. Jordan with the riddles. Jordan who was basically a human **sphinx**, always asking questions that made Maya's brain short-circuit. Last week: "What's something everyone sees but no one talks about?" (Maya still didn't know the answer and it was ruining her.)

Today Jordan caught her eye and raised an eyebrow. That was it. Just an eyebrow. And Maya was spiraling.

"Earth to Maya," Kai snapped their fingers. "Mr. Harrison is staring. Again."

Mr. Harrison, their history teacher, was in full **bull** mode today, lecturing about something ancient and irrelevant while aggressively slapping his ruler against the whiteboard. The man had zero chill and even less student engagement.

"This whole lecture is cap," Maya muttered under her breath, and Kai nearly choked trying not to laugh.

After class, Jordan appeared at her desk like they'd materialized from thin air.

"Hey," Jordan said, casual as anything. "You going to Leah's party Friday?"

Maya's stomach did that thing where it forgot how to organ function. "Maybe? Depends on if my parents let me out of house arrest."

"Cool." Jordan nodded, then dropped the bomb: "You should come. It'd be... better if you were there."

Then Jordan walked away, leaving Maya standing there like someone's confused golden retriever. A literal **dog** waiting for a treat that might never come.

Kai appeared beside her, vibrating with energy. "Did Jordan just invite you to the party? AS INVITED YOU?"

"I think?" Maya covered her face with her hands. "I don't even know what just happened."

"What just happened," Kai grabbed her arm, "is that you're going to that party, and you're going to wear that black dress that makes you look iconic, and you're finally going to talk to Jordan properly instead of having panic attacks from across the room."

Maya grinned despite herself. Maybe November wasn't going to hit so different after all.