Fox on the Court

The spinach stuck in my braces was literally the worst thing that could happen. Not quite — the worst was when Maya, the only friend I'd made since moving to this stuck-up prep school, waved at me from across the padel court.

"You coming, Leo?" she called, and half the club turned to look.

My brain short-circuited. Three weeks ago, I was cracking jokes with my crew back in the city, holding court at lunch like I owned the place. Now? I was basically doing mental gymnastics trying to figure out which fork to use at dinner.

I swallowed. Hard. The spinach was still there. I could feel it mocking me.

"Yeah," I managed, channeling my inner fox — sneaky, smooth, totally not panicking. "Just... stretching."

Coach Miller blew his whistle. "New guy, you're up."

My legs felt like jelly as I stepped onto the court. Padel was basically tennis but weirder — smaller court, walls you could hit off, and somehow more intense. Maya was already there, looking like she owned the place with her cute skirt and perfect form.

"Don't overthink it," she whispered, grinning. "Just hit the thing."

Our opponents: Jason and his sidekick Tyler. Jason, aka The Bull, who'd been giving me the cold shoulder since I accidentally knocked his tray over in the cafeteria last week. Great. Just great.

The game started, and somehow I was actually doing okay. My competitive brain kicked in — I might be socially awkward, but I could destroy people at sports. Maya and I were in this weird sync, reading each other's moves without speaking. We were crushing it.

Then Jason hit this impossible shot near the wall. Everyone watched as I sprinted, leaped, and somehow slammed it back cross-court. Point us.

"Whoa," Maya said, eyes wide. "Where'd you learn to play like that?"

"Street tennis," I said, feeling a tiny bit cool for the first time in weeks. "My boys and I used to play until the streetlights came on."

After the game — we won, obviously — Maya sat next to me on the bench. "So," she said, pulling a mirror from her bag. "You know you've had spinach in your teeth since you walked in?"

I died inside. Literally died.

But then she laughed, and it wasn't mean. It was this genuine thing that made me laugh too. "I was waiting to see how long you'd go before checking," she said. "Record time, by the way."

"You're the worst," I said, but I was smiling.

"You're not so bad yourself, Fox," she said. "Maybe tomorrow you'll actually use the right fork."