Palm Reader's Strikeout

Maya's mom had dropped her off at the summer league baseball game with typical millennial enthusiasm: "Put yourself out there, sweetie!"

Maya adjusted her vintage bucket hat—low over her eyes, obviously—and sat three rows up, praying nobody noticed her new braces. The metal mouth situation was straight-up mid, but at least the hat game was strong.

Her palm was sweating. Literally. She'd been gripping her phone so hard her knuckles hurt, waiting for Kai from AP Chem to notice she existed. He was on the mound, pitching like his life depended on it, which was objectively kind of cringe but also weirdly hot?

Then she saw it: a calico cat padding along the outfield fence like it owned the place. Because that was normal.

"Yo, is nobody else seeing this?" Maya muttered, but everyone's eyes were locked on Kai's windup.

He threw. The batter connected. And suddenly the ball was soaring directly at where the cat sat, completely unbothered, tail swishing with chaotic feline energy.

Maya didn't think. She just moved, vaulting over the row in front of her, hat flying off, hair frizzing everywhere like some kind of electrocuted experiment. She snatched the cat—"Dude, WHAT"—mid-pounce as the baseball landed exactly where it'd been sitting.

Lightning cracked across the sky. Actual weather drama.

For three solid seconds, everyone stared. Then Kai jogged over, panting, and squinted at her.

"Did you just... save that cat?"

"My brain was buffering," Maya admitted, clutching the purring menace like it was a emotional support animal. "Also, this is your cat, apparently?"

"His name's Slider," Kai said, cracking a smile that made Maya's stomach do something genuinely embarrassing. "That was literally the most chaotic thing I've ever seen, and I appreciate that energy."

Her palm was still sweating. But when Kai sat beside her and let Slider curl up between them, Maya decided maybe putting herself out there wasn't totally hopeless.

Even if she'd definitely need to buy a new hat. This one had seen too much.