Orange Crush on Court Three

Maya's first mistake was dying her hair **orange** three days before freshman year. Her mom said she looked like a traffic cone. Her brother said she looked cool, which was worse because he never said anything cool about anything. Now she stood by the **padel** court, clutching a borrowed racquet like it might bite, while everyone else's racquets had matching covers and personalized grips.

"You coming?" Chloe called from the court. Chloe, with her perfect ponytail and probably-a-sponsorship-worthy serve.

"Yeah," Maya squeaked. "Just... adjusting my grip."

Her grip was fine. Her hands were shaking. This was what happened when you tried to reinvent yourself over summer break—no more invisible girl in the back row, no more hiding behind oversized hoodies. New school year, new Maya. New Maya played **padel**. New Maya didn't panic when pretty girls invited her to join their squad.

The net tension **cable** vibrated every time someone hit the ball. *Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.* Maya counted the sounds instead of breathing.

"Your serve," Chloe said, tossing a ball.

Maya missed it completely. It bounced twice, rolled to the fence, and died there like her dignity.

"Sorry," Maya muttered, fetching another ball. "My aunt's dog died this morning. I'm distracted."

Chloe's face softened. "Oh my god, that's terrible. What was its name?"

"...Cable?"

Why did she say that? Why did she name a fictional dog after the net tension **cable**? Now Chloe would probably ask follow-up questions and Maya would have to invent a whole dead dog backstory and—

"That's actually kind of iconic," Chloe said. "Like, Cable the dog. Sounds like a comic book character."

Maya blinked. "Yeah. He was... a good boy."

She hit the serve over the net. It landed in.

"Nice!" Chloe grinned, and for the first time, it reached her eyes. "We should totally hang out after this. My brother has this **orange** soda he's obsessed with, it's actually kind of gross but you'd probably love it."

Maya's hair didn't feel so orange anymore. "I'd love that."