Fastest Heartbeat Ever

The smoothie was absolute assassination. Maya stared at the green sludge in her blender—spinach and papaya, because some TikTok influencer swore it would make you "run like you're possessed by demons."

"You're actually gonna drink that?" Leo raised an eyebrow from his spot on the counter. "That looks like something that crawled out of a swamp."

"Shut up, Leo." She downed it in three gulps. "Coach Bull says regionals are everything. I'm not messing this up."

Coach Bull—his actual last name, but also completely accurate—had been riding her all season. "Potential, Maya! You're wasting it!" he'd bark during practice, his voice carrying across the track like he was using a megaphone.

But the real problem wasn't Coach Bull. It was that Maya had made varsity as a freshman, which apparently made her some kind of threat to the junior girls who'd been running there for three years. They'd "accidentally" bump into her during laps. Leave her out of group chats. Act like she was invisible.

Whatever. She was fast. That's what mattered.

"You good?" Leo asked. "You look like you're gonna hurl."

"Just pre-race nerves."

"You're gonna crush it." He hopped down. "I'll be watching."

Maya's stomach did that thing it always did when Leo talked to her. The absolute worst timing, because Leo was basically off-limits. Senior. Track team captain. Two years older. The kind of guy who dated girls who wore perfume and had hair that somehow always looked perfect.

Not girls who drank swamp smoothies and had spray tan lines from their shin guards.

*Why do I have to be so awkward around him?*

The stadium lights flickered on as gray clouds stacked up overhead. Great. A thunderstorm rolling in exactly when regionals were supposed to start.

"Runners to your marks!" The official's voice echoed across the track.

Maya adjusted her starting blocks. Her heart was going totally insane—fast, like someone was playing it on double speed. She could hear the other girls giggling behind her. Probably making fun of her hair or her warmup routine or the fact that she'd once fallen on her face during gym class in seventh grade.

*Focus. Just run. That's it. Just run.*

"Set!" *BANG!*

Maya launched forward like she'd been fired from a cannon. Her legs were burning by the first curve. Her breath was coming in sharp gasps. The papaya smoothie was threatening to make a reappearance.

But she was in second place.

*Keep going. Don't think. Just run.*

She could hear someone behind her. One of the mean girls—Jessica, maybe? Pushing harder, trying to psych her out.

*Not today, Jess.*

The sky crackled. Lightning flashed overhead, bright as a camera flash. Someone in the stands screamed.

*Oh perfect. We're all gonna get electrocuted while I'm trying to qualify for state.*

But Maya didn't slow down. She leaned into the final stretch, her legs screaming, her lungs on fire, her heart beating so fast she thought it might explode.

And then—

She crossed the line.

First place.

The crowd was going wild. Leo was screaming her name from the stands. Coach Bull was actually smiling, which Maya had never seen before and honestly was kind of terrifying.

She'd done it.

"MAYA!" Leo pushed through the crowd to get to her. "You were insane! That final lap—I've never seen anyone run that fast!"

She was still gasping for air, bent over with her hands on her knees. "Thanks."

"Seriously." He was grinning like crazy. "That was... honestly? That was kind of inspiring."

Maya stood up straight. Her heart was still racing, but now it wasn't just from the running.

"You think?"

"I know." He looked at her for a second, like he was seeing her differently. "Hey, some of us are grabbing food after this. You should come."

For real?

"Yeah." Maya smiled. "But I'm picking the place. And no one's allowed to make fun of my smoothie order."