Lightning at the Net

I stood at the edge of the padel court, clutching my stupid science fair project—a plastic bag containing my sister's goldfish, Bubbles, because apparently I'm the responsible one now. The entire tennis club was packed, and everyone who was anyone from sophomore year was there. Including Tyler.

"You coming in or what?" Maya called from the court, already sweating from a rally. "We need a fourth for mixed doubles."

I gestured helplessly at the bag. "Fish sitter duty. Mom said if anything happens to Bubbles, I'm dead."

"Bring the fish!" Tyler laughed, wiping water from his forehead. The sun glinted off his copper skin, and I felt that annoying flutter in my chest. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Famous last words.

Ten minutes later, I was playing the worst padel of my life while Bubbles swam obliviously in his bag courtside. Every time Tyler served, I'd get distracted by his arms and miss the ball entirely. Maya kept giving me that look—she knew exactly what was happening.

Then the sky went dark. Like, apocalyptic dark.

Everyone looked up as clouds rolled in faster than I'd ever seen. A storm wasn't supposed to hit until tonight, but the air suddenly felt electric. My arm hairs stood up.

"We should probably—" I started.

CRACK.

Lightning struck somewhere so close it shook the court's fence. Girls screamed. Someone's phone hit the ground. The sky opened up, and suddenly we were all running toward the club house, drenched within seconds.

I scrambled to grab Bubbles' bag, but in the chaos, someone knocked into me. The bag went flying toward a puddle near the court's edge.

"NO!" I screamed, diving.

Tyler was already there, his hand closing around the plastic bag just before it hit the water. He held it up like a trophy, water dripping from his hair, grinning like we'd just won something huge.

"Got him," he said, handing me the bag. Our fingers brushed. Lightning flashed again, illuminating everything in this stark, brilliant white, and for a second, the whole world seemed to freeze.

We sat under the clubhouse overhang, shoulders pressed together, watching the storm. Bubbles was fine. I was kind of a disaster.

"Nice save," I said, trying to sound chill.

"Yeah?" He bumped my shoulder with his. "You too. That dive was next level."

Maya found us later and smirked. "So... did you guys win or lose?"

Tyler looked at me, really looked at me, and smiled. "Think we're doing okay."

The storm kept raging, but I wasn't running anymore. From anything.