Courtside

Maya smoothed the orange juice-stained apron for the hundredth time that day. Her aunt's café sat right next to the Ridgeview Country Club's padel courts, which meant she spent every Saturday watching the kids from school in their pristine whites while she served overpriced smoothies to their parents.

"Number 47," she called out, sliding a plastic cup across the counter. "Spinach detox with extra ginger."

A tall boy with messy brown hair looked up from his phone, then froze.

Maya's stomach did that embarrassing flutter thing. It was Leo. Leo, who sat two rows behind her in pre-calc. Leo, whose laugh she'd been secretly cataloging since September.

"Thanks," Leo said, their eyes meeting for approximately three seconds. "You're Maya, right? From Mr. Harrison's class?"

She managed something resembling a nod. "Yeah. Hi."

"I was gonna ask you," he continued, like this was totally normal, "do you ever play? Padel, I mean."

Maya laughed before she could stop herself. "Me? No. I'm more of a 'watch from the window while working' kind of person."

"That's cool." Leo actually smiled. "I need a fourth for Tuesday. My partner bailed. You should come."

The offer hung in the humid air between them — genuine, unexpected, and terrifying. Maya's brain immediately provided a highlight reel of every way this could go wrong. She'd trip. She'd miss every ball. She'd be the charity case everyone talked about at lunch on Monday.

"I don't even have a racket," she heard herself say.

"We have extras." Leo was already backing toward the door, smoothie in hand. "Think about it, Maya. See you Tuesday?"

He was gone before she could process that he'd actually used her name.

Later, as she wiped down the counter, Maya caught her reflection in the café window. Orange apron. Messy ponytail. The girl who watched from the sidelines. Maybe, just maybe, it was time to step onto the court.

The spinach smoothie cup sat empty on the counter. Green sludge at the bottom, like something that should've been gross but somehow wasn't bad at all. Kind of like how today had turned out.

She'd be there Tuesday. terrified and unprepared and wearing someone else's spare racket. But for the first time in forever, Maya wasn't just watching anymore.