She may not have been able to sleep at night, but Maya’s ten o’clock algebra class felt like a perfect time to rest. Her eyelids kept fluttering shut, and the droning voice of her teacher wasn’t helping. Her head fell against her math book.

“You okay?” she heard Bridgette whisper. She blearily opened her eyes.

“Yeah, why?”

“It’s time to go.” 

“Oh.” Maya sat up and stacked her books into her bag. She pulled out her glasses and sunhat as well.

“It’s November, Maya.” Bridgette laughed and swung out her own brown jacket, studded with patches and stitching.

“Well, climate change fucked us up, cause it's blazing. And I hate the sun.” This was true. Maya burnt faster than anyone she knew, and without sunglasses, her eyes would start stinging in seconds. Her face was covered in tiny freckles.

“Okay, dude.” They walked together through the partially shaded campus to an empty square of grass, where Jackson and Noemi were already sitting. Maya dropped her bag next to them.

“Hey.” Noemi smiled at them. Her dark hair was braided in a pretty style over her shoulder, and she wore a large cardigan over her jeans.

“Hey.” Maya sat down, the wet grass sticking to her legs. “Can someone tell me what’s going on right now in math, because I’m lost.”

“Sorry, Mazzy. Can’t help.” Jackson patted down his curly, blue streaked hair as he spoke. Maya had helped him dye it, but it hadn’t been very successful. “But if you want to, maybe you could run lines with me…”

“Damn, I thought you’d never ask.” Maya leaned over and grabbed the stapled script from his hands. “Are you George Washington or Lincoln in this one?”

“Shut up, I wrote that in fifth grade.” He raised his hands dramatically. “I’d like to think I’m out of my Hamilton phase, now that we’re sophomores.”

Maya raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, I’m not buying that.” 

They laughed, and then Maya looked up, noticing the sudden silence where Bridgette and Noemi’s conversation had stopped.

“Do you guys wanna all catch a movie tonight?” Bridgette asked.

Jackson pulled out his phone to text his ride and Noemi nodded eagerly, but Maya shook her head sadly.

“I can’t. I have the stupid meeting thing tonight.”

“Meeting?” Noemi asked.

“You know, for her condition,” Jackson said. He looked at her to confirm. “Right?”

Maya nodded, squirming a bit. Her “condition.” It was a way to explain away all of the things that made her not quite normal. Her constant need for sun protection, obsession with eating fruit– and only fruit– most of the time, how she was tired all day but never night, and how her heartbeat would sometimes race up to levels that could only be described as “inhuman.” 

Maya wasn’t human.

But most of the time she tried to forget about that.

“What do you guys do?” Bridgette asked. “Is it like a support group or whatever?”

“Yeah, I guess. They’re all older than me.” That was true.

Noemi looked up from the piece of grass she was twisting in her fingers. “That’s kinda cool.”

“No, it’s a bummer, because I’m gonna miss the awesome movie you guys are going to tonight.” She shook her head. “You better have fun.”