No One Calls Me Bear

The padel court smelled like rubber and desperation. Just like freshman year.

Maya gripped her racquet until her knuckles turned pale. Coach Rodriguez had assigned her to play mixed doubles with Luke—the same Luke who sat two rows behind her in AP Bio and never seemed to notice she existed. Great. Perfect. Absolutely throwing up right now.

"You got this, Bear," her brother Jay yelled from the sidelines.

Maya's face burned. She'd begged him for two years to stop using that nickname, ever since she'd gotten stuck in a bear costume at age six and refused to take it off for three days. The video still lived on Jay's phone. He showed it to everyone. Everyone.

Luke looked over, confused. "Bear?"

"Don't ask," Maya muttered, wishing she could dissolve into the synthetic turf beneath her sneakers. Her cat, Mochi, would be judging her so hard right now. Mochi judged everyone. That was why Maya loved her.

The game began. Maya's first serve ricocheted off the fence. The second one hit the net. The third one—miraculously—landed in.

"Nice one," Luke said, flashing that smile that made her brain short-circuit.

They played. Actually played. Maya stopped overthinking every shot, stopped worrying about Jay shouting embarrassing things from the bleachers, stopped obsessing over whether her hair looked okay after that rally. She just moved.

And somewhere between the second set and Luke's terrible attempt at a joke that made her laugh anyway, Maya realized something: she was having fun. Actually, genuinely fun. Not fake "this is fine" fun, but real fun.

After the match—*they'd actually won*—Luke sat next to her on the bench while she untied her shoes. "So, Bear?" he asked again, but this time his tone was different. Softer.

Maya sighed. "Childhood trauma. Don't worry about it."

"Nah." Luke shrugged. "It's kind of cute."

Her stomach did that weird fluttery thing that happened in romance novels, which she pretended not to read but definitely did. Mochi would be so disappointed in her.

"Hey," Luke said. "Want to grab boba after this? My treat. Unless you have to go home to your... cat?"

"How'd you know I have a cat?"

"You have cat hair on your jacket," he said. "Always."

Maya looked down. Oh no. Oh well. Whatever.

She smiled. "Boba sounds good. But if you call me Bear, I'm calling you... I'll think of something."

Luke laughed. "Deal."

From the sidelines, Jay gave her a thumbs-up. Maya rolled her eyes but couldn't help grinning. Maybe freshman year wouldn't smell like desperation forever.