Fox Court Confidential

Maya pressed her face against the chain-link fence, heart doing that stupid flutter thing it always did when Lucas walked onto the padel court. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting everything in a sickly yellow glow that somehow still made him look like a movie star.

"You're literally spying on him again," Kayla whispered, appearing beside her with an eye roll that spoke volumes. "It's giving obsessed."

"I'm not spying," Maya protested, though her face burned hot. "I'm observing. There's a difference."

"You're crouching behind a fence like a fox waiting to pounce on an innocent rabbit." Kayla popped her gum. "Same energy, bestie."

Maya ducked lower as Lucas high-fived his doubles partner, his laugh carrying across the empty sports complex. She'd been coming here every Friday for three weeks—fake-ID in hand, claiming she was sixteen—and still hadn't worked up the nerve to actually talk to him. Instead, she'd become an expert in his padel game: the way he favored his backhand, his tendency to grunt when he served, how his sweat-dampened hair curled at his temples.

Creepy? Maybe.

But Maya was fifteen and completely new to this whole feelings thing, so creepy came with the territory.

"Whatever," she muttered, scrolling through her phone to look busy. "He's never even gonna notice me. I'm invisible."

"Then stop lurking and introduce yourself," Kayla said, like it was that simple. "Or I'm doing it for you."

"NO—" But Kayla was already marching toward the courts, her Jordan's squeaking against the polished concrete. Maya scrambled after her, stomach churning.

Lucas looked up as they approached, his smile genuine and devastating. "Hey! You're the girl who's always here."

Maya's brain short-circuited. He'd noticed?

"I'm Maya," she squeaked.

"Cool. Want to hit a few? My partner bailed."

And just like that, Maya found herself stepping onto the court, padel racket in hand, her heart pounding so hard she thought it might burst. Later, when Lucas finally asked for her number, she caught Kayla's gaze across the court and saw her best friend grinning like she'd orchestrated everything.

Maybe being a spy wasn't so bad after all.