Dead Man Walking

I looked like a straight-up zombie. Four hours of sleep, dark circles that could host their own solar system, and my mom's giant vitamin D pills sitting in my pocket like a threat. "You'll get rickets," she'd said that morning, because apparently that's something fourteen-year-olds need to worry about now.

I dragged myself through the glass doors of the Padel Pro Club, where my first shift as a "courtside attendant" awaited. Padel—the rich kid version of tennis, played inside enclosed cages with walls you could smash the ball against. The kind of sport where parents dropped their kids off in BMWs and the closest thing to a struggle was which color grip to use.

"You're new," said a girl about my age, already sweating from a match. She had that effortless glow people get when they're actually good at sports. "I'm Maya. You're gonna want to stand right there—ball comes flying fast when they smash."

I nodded, trying not to look as dead as I felt.

First hour: fine. Second hour: the vitamin kicked in, and my stomach did that thing where it announces its presence to everyone. Third hour: pure chaos. The screen displaying match scores froze—some loose cable behind the reception desk. The manager, Mark, was losing it.

"Fix it, kid," he said, already turning back to his phone.

I crawled under the desk, found the HDMI cable hanging by a thread, and jammed it back in. The screen flickered to life, and the entire club erupted in applause. Maya grinned at me from across the room, gave me a thumbs-up.

When my shift ended, she was waiting by the doors. "Nice save. You want to join us tomorrow? We need a fourth for doubles."

"I don't know how to play," I said. "Also I'm terrible at sports."

"So?" She shrugged. "Neither did half the people here. You saved the scoreboard, you're basically a hero. Also you look like you could use some actual sun."

I laughed, and for the first time all day, I didn't feel like the walking dead. Sometimes the worst shifts turn into the best stories—and maybe my mom's vitamins weren't so evil after all.