Green Smoothie Courage

Maya's hands were literally shaking as she gripped the padel racket. This wasn't just some casual meetup at the courts — Chloe, the effortlessly gorgeous sophomore who'd been dominating Maya's thoughts (and Instagram feed) for weeks, was watching from the sidelines.

"You got this, Maya!" Chloe called out, and Maya's stomach did that embarrassing flutter thing.

Her phone buzzed in her bag. Probably another meltdown in the friend group chat. Someone said something, someone else got offended, now everyone was choosing sides. Maya had been ghosting the drama all morning, which was low-key toxic but she literally could not deal.

She'd barely slept, too anxious about today. At breakfast, her mom had pushed this disgusting spinach smoothie situation, lecturing about how athletes needed proper nutrition. Maya had chugged it just to make her mom stop talking, and now her stomach was protesting.

"Maya, serve!" her opponent called.

She launched the ball, but her form was off. Way off. The ball hit the net, and she wanted to disappear into the court's surface.

But then Chloe laughed. Not in a mean way — in a hey-I've-been-there way.

"Your face right now," Chloe said, grinning. "You look like you're bearing the weight of the world or something."

Maya cracked up. "You have no idea."

Something shifted. Maybe it was the spinach finally kicking in, or realizing that Chloe wasn't some perfect goddess who judged every mistake. Maybe it was just deciding to stop ghosting her actual life.

"Wanna get food after?" Maya heard herself say. "I'm starving and I swear I'll never drink spinach again if I don't have to."

Chloe's smile was genuine. "I know this place. Best burritos in town."

Maya's phone buzzed again. Drama in the chat. She ignored it. Some things were worth bearing — but this wasn't one of them.