Goldfish & Padel Courts

I was basically a zombie finals week, surviving on three hours of sleep and whatever caffeine hadn't been banned from school grounds. My goldfish, FinFin, was doing better than me—he just floated around his bowl living his best life while I memorized algebra formulas that would absolutely haunt my dreams.

"You coming?" Maya texted. "Padel with us."

Padel. The sport everyone was suddenly obsessed with because it was tennis but edgier. I used to play baseball with the old crew until everything got weird and distant, like leftover pizza that's been in the fridge too long.

The courts were packed. I was terrible at padel—like, impressively bad. The ball ricocheted off my racket and nearly took out Jenna's iced matcha latte.

"Bro," Diego laughed, but not mean. "You play like you're thinking about baseball still."

I was. I missed baseball—the dirt, the sound of the bat, how nobody cared if you looked cool doing it. Padel felt like performing, not playing.

After, Maya's mom dropped us off and insisted we stay for dinner because I looked like I "hadn't seen a vegetable since the Obama administration." She made this spinach thing that was actually fire, and we sat around the table roasting each other while her little brother tried to convince us his goldfish could do tricks.

"He's not doing tricks," I said. "He's just existing. That's valid."

"Deep," Maya said. "What's with FinFin anyway? You okay?"

I shrugged. "He's been with me since fifth grade. What if he doesn't make it to high school?"

"Bro, it's a fish," Diego said, but softer this time. "But also, same. I feel like I'm not gonna make it to high school sometimes."

We sat there while the spinach got cold and nobody checked their phones, talking about how everything was changing and we were all just floating through it like confused goldfish in a bowl that was getting way too small.

Maybe padel was weird at first. Maybe I missed baseball. But spinning around in that kitchen, eating spinach and roasting each other, I felt like I was finally waking up from being a zombie.