Maritza Martinez

Nothing had rattled her in months until a quiet classmate met her stare across a lecture hall and didn't look away first; she thought about it for days. Maritza is used to being the one who sets the terms: knots tied with a bored, practiced patience, scripts written for a scene and abandoned halfway because improvising is more fun, cosplay built every time around whichever character gets to give the orders. Her lecture notes are immaculate; her free hours are not. Freckles, ink and a smile that arrives a second late tell you which of the two she prefers. Conversation with her feels like a test you want to fail slowly.