Riddles on the Court

The gym air smelled like rubber and desperation. I stood at the edge of the padel court, my borrowed racquet feeling weirdly light in sweaty hands. This was supposed to be casual Friday hangouts, but somehow I'd agreed to play against Carlos—aka The Bull, whose nickname came from both his physique and his tendency to charge the net like he was personally offended by the existence of personal space.

"You got this," Maya whispered from the sidelines. Maya, who I'd been crushing on since September, who smiled like she knew secrets about everyone, who moved through the hallways like some kind of gorgeous sphinx—unreadable, mysterious, making me want to solve whatever riddle she was.

The Bull served. The ball bounced once, twice, and I swung and missed entirely.

"Nice swing, Shakespeare," someone laughed. Probably Tyler, my ride-or-die since fourth grade, currently abandoning me for his phone on the bleachers. Some dog he was.

Maya covered her mouth but I saw her shoulders shaking. Great. Humiliation: complete.

Then she jogged onto the court. "Here." She positioned herself behind me, hands on my shoulders, correcting my stance. "You're thinking too much. Just hit the thing."

Her breath was minty. Her hair smelled like coconut. My brain short-circuited.

"Serve," she said, and Carlos did. I didn't think. I just swung, and—THWACK—the ball sailed perfectly between The Bull and his partner, landing inches inside the baseline.

Maya whooped. "See?"

We played for an hour. I missed more than I hit, but when I finally landed this ridiculous behind-the-back shot that had no business working, Maya tackled me in a hug that smelled like coconut shampoo and victory.

"You're not terrible," she said, pulling back but not letting go. "Actually, you're kinda good when you're not overthinking everything."

The Bull clapped my shoulder on the way out. "Respect."

"We should do this again," Maya said, and suddenly all the sphinx-riddles in the world didn't matter because I'd somehow figured out the one that counted.

"Yeah," I said. "We definitely should."