Dead on My Feet

I looked like a zombie. Three hours of sleep will do that to you before the Regional Padel Championship. My hair was doing that thing where it defies gravity, and I'm pretty sure my eyes had bags under the bags.

"You good, bro?" Marcus asked, tossing me my racquet. "You look dead."

"I'm fine," I lied. Because that's what you do when you're the new kid trying to prove you're not terrible at sports.

Here's the thing about padel—it's like tennis but with walls, and somehow that makes it more chaotic. I'd only started playing three months ago when my dad got obsessed with it, because of course he did. Now I was stuck in this tournament, partnered with the guy who'd been my best friend since fourth grade, even though we'd been drifting apart since he discovered popularity and I discovered that social anxiety is real.

The first game was a disaster. I missed everything. I could feel the collective judgment of everyone watching—parents, coaches, that one girl from my English class who I'd been crushing on for months. Every time I shanked a ball, I felt like I was bearing the weight of every awkward moment I'd ever had.

But then something clicked. We started winning. Marcus and I fell back into that old rhythm, communicating without words like we used to. We made it to the finals.

"After this, we're hitting the pool," some guy from the opposing team announced. "Victory party. You should come."

I almost said no. I'd been saying no to everything lately. But Marcus looked at me like he actually wanted me to say yes, so I found myself nodding.

We lost. But we didn't really lose, you know?

Hours later, I was floating in the pool while someone's terrible playlist blasted through waterproof speakers. Marcus was in the deep end doing his best impression of a bear attacking a salmon, making everyone laugh. I wasn't the most popular kid there. I wasn't the best at padel. My crush was talking to someone else.

But for the first time in months, I didn't feel like the zombie everyone saw. I was just some kid at a pool party, being a friend, feeling like maybe, just maybe, this whole growing up thing wasn't going to be terrible forever.