Barely Breathing

The tryouts were today. I'd been mentally prepping for weeks, but my stomach still did backflips every time I thought about stepping onto that court.

"You got this, Mai," Kira said, bumping my shoulder. "You've been playing padel with your dad since you were like, seven."

"Yeah, but this is JV team tryouts. Everyone's gonna be watching." I adjusted my ponytail for the tenth time.

The morning flew by in a blur. I played decently—nothing spectacular, but I didn't completely embarrass myself either. Then came the final drill: King of the Court, winner stays on.

I got paired up against Tyler. The same Tyler who'd sat behind me in bio freshman year, who always smelled like mint gum and pencil shavings. The Tyler I'd been lowkey crushing on for approximately forever.

"Ready to get wrecked, Chen?" He smirked, spinning his racquet.

"In your dreams, Rodriguez."

We played. I don't even remember most of it—I was running on autopilot, my body remembering what my brain had forgotten. But somewhere in the third set, I looked up and saw everyone watching. Coach, the other players, even some random students who'd stopped to watch through the fence.

My arms felt like lead. My lungs burned. I could barely bear the weight of their expectations.

Then I locked eyes with Tyler across the net. Something shifted. He wasn't just the crush anymore—he was competition. He was the person standing between me and who I wanted to be.

I stopped thinking. I just moved.

The final point stretched into forever. The ball came at me hard. I didn't back down. I didn't overthink. I swung.

The ball hit the corner of the glass wall perfectly, dropping just inches over the net. Tyler couldn't get there in time.

Game. Set. Match.

"Whoa," Kira said later as we walked to our bikes. "You were literally on fire. I thought Tyler was gonna cry."

I laughed, but I couldn't stop glancing back toward the courts. Something had changed today. I'd spent so long running from anything that scared me—tryouts, talking to my crush, putting myself out there.

But I'd done it. I'd showed up. I'd played my heart out.

"Hey," Tyler called out, jogging toward us. "Nice game today. You're actually... really good."

"Thanks," I managed, my face heating up. "You too."

"Maybe we could practice sometime?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "If you want."

I grinned. "Yeah. I'd like that."

Sometimes the scariest things are the ones worth running toward.