Bulls, Bears, and Other Storms

I stared at the vitamin D gummy on the kitchen counter like it was a microscopic judge of my entire existence. Mom's sticky note: *Take this. You're pale.* Thanks, Mom. Highkey rude.

"You coming to the game?" Tyler yelled from the driveway. "Varsity baseball, first home game of the season!"

I grabbed the gummy. Lowkey debating faking my own death.

The whole town lived for baseball. Like, actually lived for it. The bull mentality — aggressive, charging forward, never resting. That was Tyler. That was everyone at Jefferson High. Go hard, play harder, leave everything on the field.

Me? I was a bear through and through. Hibernate, chill, vibes only.

"Kayla! You're being weird," Tyler said when I slid into his passenger seat. "Again."

"I'm not being weird. I'm being intellectually consistent with my disinterest in organized sports."

"You say that every year. And every year, you show up anyway."

He wasn't wrong. The bleachers were already packed. The air smelled like popcorn and那种 weird electric anticipation that made my chest tight. Social dynamics were exhausting — performative enthusiasm for things I didn't care about, just to avoid being That Girl who sat alone at lunch.

I spotted Lucas from AP Chem waving. We'd had a moment last week. He'd helped me with stoichiometry. I'd helped him with literally nothing because he was annoyingly smart. But there was... something.

"Hey," he said, sliding onto the bleacher beside me. "You actually came."

"Begrudgingly."

He laughed. "Same. No cap."

Our knees touched. I felt like I'd been struck by lightning — that dramatic, movie-moment kind that Definitely Did Not Feel Real. His hair smelled like coconut and poor decisions.

"I take these vitamin gummies every morning," I blurted out. WHY. "My mom thinks I'm dying of scurvy or something."

Lucas stared at me. And then he laughed. Not mean-laughed. Real-laughed.

"Mine too," he said. "She bought me these ones shaped like dinosaurs. I'm seventeen."

The baseball game continued in the background — someone hit a home run, the crowd went absolutely feral, Tyler was probably somewhere being very bull-like and awesome. But I was stuck in this moment, this stupid, perfect moment where someone got it.

"Want to skip?" Lucas asked quietly. "There's a diner down the street. They have milkshakes."

I looked at the field. At Tyler high-fiving everyone. At the town living their best bull lives.

Then I looked at Lucas, who was apparently a bear too.

"Bet." I stood up. "Let's bounce before anyone notices."

We ducked under the bleachers and ran. The sky cracked open with actual lightning as we sprinted toward his car. I was soaked. My hair was ruined. I was definitely going to get in trouble.

I couldn't stop smiling.