Orange Slices at the Dugout

The baseball hat was basically glued to my head at this point. Not because it looked good—it didn't—but because I hadn't washed my hair in three days and dry shampoo could only do so much.

"You good, Maya?" Leo asked, stealing an orange slice from my lunch tray.

"I'm chilling," I lied. My palms were sweating so bad I had to wipe them on my jeans. "Just... vibing."

We were sitting by the school's baseball diamond, watching practice. Or, I was watching practice. Leo was mostly just stealing my food.

"You've been staring at Jordan for like twenty minutes," Leo said, grinning. "He's not even that cute."

I threw a tangerine peel at him. "Shut up. I'm just observing his... technique."

"His batting technique?" Leo raised an eyebrow. "Pretty sure you mean his butt technique."

I groaned. "I hate you."

But okay, maybe he had a point. Jordan Rodriguez had been my crush since seventh grade, and now we were juniors and I was still stuck in the pining-from-afar stage of my development. It was tragic, honestly.

Then Jordan turned around and saw us.

My heart dropped into my stomach.

He started walking toward the fence.

Oh god. Oh no. This was fine. This was totally fine. I adjusted my hat and tried to look like a person who had their entire life together and definitely didn't eat lunch by the baseball field every day just to watch him practice.

"Hey," Jordan said, leaning against the fence. His eyes were brown. His eyelashes were annoyingly perfect. "You guys staying for the game?"

"Yeah," I said, way too fast. Leo choked on his orange.

Jordan smiled. "Cool. I'm pitching today. You should come watch."

"We'll be there," Leo said, still coughing.

Jordan lingered for a second. "Save me an orange slice?"

Then he winked and walked away.

I sat there frozen. Leo recovered from his coughing fit and looked at me.

"Did that just happen?"

I looked at the remaining orange slices in my lunch bag. I looked at Jordan walking back to the dugout, adjusting his cap.

"I think," I said slowly, "I might need to wash my hair tomorrow."