Running Between the Lines

Maya's palms were sweating before she even stepped onto the court. The padel racket felt foreign in her hands, like she was holding someone else's life. Chloe, the girl she'd been lowkey crushing on since September, stood across the net, looking effortless in her tennis skirt.

"You got this, Maya!" Chloe called out, and Maya's stomach did that annoying flippy thing it always did when Chloe spoke.

The game was a disaster. Maya missed every ball, her coordination apparently taking a vacation. When she finally managed to hit one back, she tripped over her own feet and face-planted on the court. The silence was louder than any laugh could've been.

Running. That was her specialty now. She bolted from the court, ignoring Chloe's confused "Maya, wait!"

She ended up at Jackson's pool party, which was basically where all the cool kids congregated on Fridays. Maya hid behind the pool house, wiping her face and trying to convince herself that transferring schools was still an option.

"Running from padel now too?"

Maya jumped. Chloe stood there, towel slung over her shoulder, holding two sodas.

"I'm not running," Maya lied. "I'm just... strategically relocating."

Chloe laughed, actually laughed, and sat down beside her. "I lose at everything too. Last week I cried because I couldn't open a jar of pickles in front of everyone."

Maya blinked. "You?"

"Total disaster zone," Chloe said. "But you know what I learned?"

"What?"

"Nobody's watching as close as you think they are."

Behind them, someone did a cannonball into the pool, sending water spraying everywhere.

They both got soaked.

"See?" Chloe said, wiping water from her glasses. "The world's too busy doing cannonballs to care about your padel game."

Maybe, Maya thought, she could stop running. Maybe some things were worth staying for.

"Want to get padel revenge on Tuesday?" Chloe asked. "I'll teach you my signature fail move."

"Deal," Maya said, and for the first time all week, she didn't feel like running.