Poolside Panic

Maya's palms were literally sweating as she clutched the padel racquet, wondering why she'd let Chloe talk her into this. The country club crowd wasn't exactly her people—they were the kids whose parents owned things, while Maya's parents worked for people who owned things.

"You've got this, just hit it like tennis," Chloe called from the other side of the court, effortlessly returning every ball like she'd been born holding a racquet. Meanwhile, Maya was over here running around like a headless chicken, missing everything and definitely not looking cool in front of Sam.

Sam. The reason she was even doing this. Sam with the perfect hair and the crooked smile, who'd smiled at her yesterday during lunch like she was actually worth noticing. Now here she was, making a complete fool of herself in front of him, because naturally he was part of this crowd too.

"Maya!" someone shouted.

She turned to see Sam motioning toward the pool area behind her. She'd been backing up without looking, like a total genius, and was about two seconds from tumbling into the water. Of course. Because this day couldn't get more embarrassing.

She turned back to the game just in time to see the ball coming right at her face. Instinct took over, and she swung wildly, making contact with the most pathetic hit ever. But somehow—miraculously—the ball cleared the net and dropped just inside the line.

"Point!" Sam called out, and she could've sworn he winked at her.

The rest of the game was marginally less disastrous. Later, she was sitting by the pool, dangling her feet in the water and trying to look like she belonged, when Sam sat beside her. For a minute they just watched the water rippling in the breeze, the palm trees swaying overhead.

"You know," Sam said finally, "I was terrified my first time playing padel. I fell on my face in front of everyone."

Maya looked up, surprised. "Really? You?"

"We're all just pretending, Maya." Sam's gaze was unexpectedly earnest. "You're cooler than you think you are."

And maybe it was cheesy, and maybe she'd still be running from her own insecurities tomorrow, but sitting there poolside with Sam's knee occasionally brushing hers, Maya felt like maybe, just maybe, she was exactly where she was supposed to be.