Fruit Cup Courage

The quinceañera was in full swing, and Leo was practically vibrating with anxiety next to the snack table. He adjusted his snapback for the fiftieth time, suddenly regretting letting Jasmine talk him into wearing it. Who wears a hat to a formal celebration anyway?

"You look fine, loser," Jasmine said, appearing beside him like she'd teleported. "Stop touching it. You're making it weird."

Leo's hand froze halfway to his brim. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one who's been crushing on the birthday girl since seventh period algebra."

"And yet, here we both are." Jasmine grabbed a papaya from the fruit arrangement, took a bite, and made a face. "Okay, that was a mistake. Zero out of ten, would not recommend."

Leo snorted. "Why did you even eat that?"

"I'm living on the edge, Leo. Taking risks. Unlike SOME people." She pointed her half-eaten fruit toward where Sophia stood surrounded by her friends, laughing at something some baseball player from the rival school had said.

"He's probably on varsity," Leo muttered. "I played baseball exactly once in eighth grade. Got hit in the face. Cried. Very memorable moment for everyone involved."

A stray cat—that had been wandering around the venue all evening—chose that exact moment to jump onto the gift table, knocking over a pyramid of gift boxes with spectacular crash.

Every head turned. The music cut. Sophia's abuela rushed over with a broom, cursing in rapid-fire Spanish while the cat hissed and bolted under a table.

Leo's brain short-circuited. This was it. The opening.

Before he could overthink it, he found himself moving toward the disaster zone, kneeling to help restack the presents. His hands shook slightly as he rebuilt the pyramid structure, pretending to be completely confident and helpful and not at all like he was about to pass out.

"Need help?" Sophia's voice came from right beside him.

Leo almost dropped a gift bag. "Yeah. That cat came out of nowhere."

"That's Fluffychiquita," she said, kneeling beside him. Their shoulders brushed. Leo's heart did something weird in his chest. "She belongs to the venue owners. They've been trying to catch her all week."

Together, they rebuilt the pyramid. When they finished, Sophia didn't move away immediately.

"Hey," she said, "you're Leo, right? From Mr. Harrison's class?"

"Yeah. That's me."

"You're really good at algebra," she said. "I, uh, I might need help studying for finals. If you're not too busy."

Leo looked up to find Jasmine watching from across the room, giving him an exaggerated thumbs-up. He adjusted his hat, smiled, and for the first time all night, his hands didn't shake at all.

"I'm never too busy for that."