The sleepover started with popcorn and a movie, like most of them did. But somewhere between the opening credits and the second round of snacks, the mood shifted.


They were sprawled across Maya’s bedroom floor in their pajamas, the glow from fairy lights dancing on the ceiling.


“Do you ever feel like… we’re standing on the edge of something?” Maya asked quietly.


Brielle looked over from where she was braiding a friendship bracelet. “Like what?”


“I don’t know. Like childhood’s behind us and… something else is coming. And it’s big, and messy, and we don’t get to rewind.”


Brielle was silent for a beat, then nodded. “Yeah. All the time.”


Maya turned on her side. “It’s not just the art camp. Or Lucas. Or high school stuff. It’s… everything. My mom keeps reminding me to be responsible. My teachers talk about college already. And I keep wondering—what if I peak now and lose myself later?”


“You won’t,” Brielle said instantly. “You’re not the kind of person who disappears. You leave ink wherever you go.”


Maya blinked. “That’s… poetic.”


Brielle smirked. “Told you I wrote poems.”


There was a pause. Then Maya asked, “Do you ever get scared you’ll outgrow people?”


Brielle hesitated. “Sometimes. But I think the people who really matter… they grow with you. Even if the pace isn’t the same.”


They lay there for a while, listening to the hum of the fan and the muffled world outside.


Then Maya sat up suddenly. “Tell me something you’ve never told anyone.”


Brielle raised an eyebrow. “Is this a sleepover game or a soul-searching session?”


“Both.”


Brielle thought for a moment. “Okay… sometimes I wish I had a different life. Not forever. Just… for a day. To see what it feels like to not have to carry so much.”


Maya nodded. “Yeah. I get that.”


Brielle looked over at her. “Your turn.”


Maya pulled her knees to her chest. “I think… I’m scared of becoming someone people expect, instead of someone I actually am. Like if I’m too quiet, or too weird, or too much of a dreamer… I’ll lose people.”


Brielle sat up beside her. “Then they’re not your people.”


Maya smiled. “But you are?”


“Always.”


And in the quiet of that night, under fairy lights and shadows, two best friends leaned on the kind of truth that didn’t need to shout.


It just needed to be heard.