Fox in the Outfield

I never should've agreed to fill in as right fielder. Baseball wasn't my thing—I was the guy who read manga during lunch while everyone else talked about parties I wasn't invited to. But when Jordan got suspended for skipping practice, Coach begged me to take his spot. Something about needing someone who could actually catch.

That's when I saw it: Riley behind the backstop, pretending to stretch but definitely spying on someone. Riley Chen, who I'd been lowkey crushing on since seventh grade, now acting like a total fox—sneaky, smooth, impossible to read.

"What are you looking at?" I asked later, sliding onto the bench beside her.

She jumped. "Nothing. Just... observing."

"You've been observing for twenty minutes. That's not nothing."

Riley sighed. "Okay, fine. Tyler's supposed to ask Sarah to prom. I'm gathering intel."

"So you're literally spying."

"It's called being a good friend. Unlike some people." She nudged my arm. "Why are you even at baseball practice? I thought you hated sports."

"I do. But Jordan got caught ditching, and..."

"Bull," she said, grinning. "You're lying."

"I'm not!"

"You're doing it to get out of your house. Your parents have been fighting all week, haven't they?"

I stared at her. How did she know that? "You really are a spy."

"I notice things, Milo. It's what I do." She reached into her bag and pulled out this weird orange fruit. "Want some? It's papaya. My mom's obsessed with making me try 'exotic foods' so I don't become a 'picky American eater.'"

I took a bite. It tasted like... nothing and everything at once. Like how I felt about everything lately.

"Well?" Riley asked.

"Weird. But... not bad?"

"Exactly." She looked at me, really looked at me, for the first time all year. "You should come to Sarah's party Friday. Unless you're going to spy on us instead."

"Maybe I will," I said, feeling lighter than I had in weeks. "Maybe I'll just become a professional spy."

"Fox in the outfield," she said. "I like it."

"What?"

"You. Sneaking up on people. Being everywhere and nowhere at once." She stood up, tossing the papaya peel into the trash. "Just don't think you're invisible, Milo. I see you."

I watched her walk away, realizing she was right. I wasn't invisible anymore. And for the first time, that didn't scare me as much as it should have.