"Then you know you can sit anywhere else."
For a moment, the laughter behind Tessa disappeared.
Maya saw the change in her face. Tessa had expected fear, not an answer. It was the first time Maya had spoken back in public.
Nia leaned against the vending machine. "She thinks she's brave now."
Paige covered her mouth, but her smile was clear.
Maya picked up her sandwich and folded the wrapper around it. "I'm not doing this today."
Tessa bent closer. "You don't get to decide that."
Maya stood, but Tessa reached across the table and grabbed her lemonade.
"Give that back."
Tessa looked at the cup, then at Maya.
"You want it?"
The next second felt strangely quiet.
Tessa tilted the cup over Maya's tray. Lemonade poured across the sandwich, the notebook, and the phone that had been sitting beside her elbow. The pages curled instantly. The screen went black.
Nia laughed so hard she had to hold the vending machine.
Paige looked away for half a second, then laughed too.
Maya stared at the spreading liquid.
Her phone was old, but it held the only copies of her work-study schedule, her apartment emails, and the voice messages from her younger brother in Ohio. The notebook held six weeks of class notes. The sandwich was not important, but seeing everything soaked and ruined made something inside her go still.
Tessa dropped the empty cup on the table.
"Oops."
Maya looked at her. "You did that on purpose."
Tessa shrugged. "Prove it."
Maya's hands began to shake.
Not because she was afraid of Tessa. Not exactly. She was afraid of what would happen if she finally stopped being afraid.
She picked up her backpack from the ground. The zipper was broken because Nia had yanked it open the week before. One of the straps hung by a few threads.
"Just walk away," Maya whispered to herself.