When the Sky Cracked Open

Maya dragged herself into AP Bio feeling like a complete zombie. Three hours of sleep after her grandma's birthday party would do that to you. She slid into her usual seat, but something was off.

"Dude, did you hear?" whispered Jordan, tapping her desk with his pen. "Principal's announcing prom court today."

Maya's stomach did a weird little flip. Not because she cared about being prom queen—okay, maybe she cared a tiny bit—but because last week she'd accidentally told Chloe she'd help with the decorations.

The intercom crackled. A sphinx statue in the ancient history hallway seemed to mock her with its stony gaze as students shuffled to the assembly.

Chloe found her in the crowd, orange crop top glowing against the sea of neutral tones. "You're coming to my house after school to finalize the theme, right? We're doing 'Electric Dreams' and it's going to be absolutely fire."

Maya nodded, but her mind was somewhere else. Last night, her mom had dropped that they might move to California over the summer. California. Across the country. Away from Jordan, away from Chloe, away from the sphinx statue she'd passed every day since freshman year.

At Chloe's house, they snacked on papaya slices while scrolling through Pinterest for decor inspo. Maya usually hated papaya, but Chloe's mom had cut it fresh, and somehow it tasted like everything she was afraid to lose.

"You okay?" Chloe asked, setting down her phone. "You've been weirdly quiet."

Maya almost lied. Almost said it was just the zombie-level exhaustion. But then she thought about how they'd been friends since seventh grade, about how Chloe had defended her when that eighth-grade rumor spread, about how Chloe knew her papaya-related weakness.

"My parents might move to California," Maya said, the words rushing out like they'd been waiting forever.

Chloe's face fell. Then she grabbed Maya's hand. "We're going to make this the best prom ever. Because prom with best friends >>> prom without them."

Lightning cracked outside the window, illuminating Chloe's room in a flash of electric blue. Maya realized something then—home wasn't a place, it was the people who knew you hated papaya but served it anyway because they thought you might change your mind.

"Electric Dreams," Maya said, squeezing Chloe's hand back. "I think I'm finally waking up."