Greens and Glory Days

Jordan's iphone buzzed against his hip like an angry hornet—third notification in two minutes. He chanced a glance at the screen during warm-ups, his heart doing that familiar fluttery thing whenever his name lit up the group chat.

'U coming to the party after?'

'Everyone's gonna be there'

'????'

Baseball practice had been dragging all afternoon. Coach Miller kept going on about "focus" and "discipline" like they were magical vitamins you could just swallow and suddenly become varsity material. Jordan's bat connected with the ball during batting practice, sending it soaring into the outfield, but his mind was stuck on that party. The one he'd been invited to for the first time since freshman year. The one that would officially make him not invisible.

His mom had gone full wellness warrior lately, which meant their kitchen had become a terrifying landscape of organic everything. Dinner last night had been some spinach monstrosity that tasted like lawn clippings mixed with despair. "It's packed with iron, honey," she'd said, eyes bright with that terrifying mom-energy. "You're growing, you need real fuel."

Growing. Yeah, no kidding. His voice cracked halfway through asking if they could just get pizza like normal people.

Now, standing near the dugout, his phone buzzed again. Maya—the junior varsity shortstop who actually knew his name—was leaning against the fence, her own iphone out. Their eyes met across the field, something electric and terrifying zipping between them. She was going to that party too. Everyone was going to that party.

Jordan's grip tightened on his bat. Coach Miller's voice echoed in his head: "You swing for the fences, or you don't swing at all."

His phone lit up with another notification. Jordan ignored it, turned toward the pitching machine, and thought: maybe tomorrow he'd actually eat the spinach without complaining. Maybe tomorrow he'd text Maya first. But right now, he had a game to win, a party to survive, and for the first time in forever, the courage to swing for something real.