Running From the Bull

The air at the county fair tasted like deep-fried everything and teenage desperation. Maya stood at the edge of the mechanical bull pen, her cross-country running shorts already plastered to her legs with sweat.

"You gonna do it or what?" Liam asked, leaning against the railing with that effortless confidence that made Maya's stomach do this stupid little flip thing. He'd been watching her all night, which was either very good or very bad.

"Yeah," she said, probably too quickly. "Just warming up."

The operator, a guy with a beard that had seen better decades, raised his eyebrows. "Five bucks, sweetheart. You fall off, you're out. Stay on, you win that bear." He pointed to the wall of prizes—giant plush bears that looked like they'd seen better years.

Maya glanced at the bears. One of them, this sad brown thing with a wonky eye, seemed to be calling to her. Not that she needed a stuffed animal. She was sixteen, practically grown.

But Liam was still watching.

She handed over her allowance money for the week.

The first five seconds weren't bad. Maya's legs burned from her morning run, but all that cross-country conditioning was paying off. She was low, centered, practically one with the machine. The crowd that had gathered was actually cheering.

Then the bull decided it was done playing nice.

Maya went airborne—like, actually airborne—and landed hard in the sawdust. Her dignity exited somewhere around rotation three.

Liam pushed through the crowd. "You okay?" He extended a hand.

Maya took it, dusting herself off. Her knee was scraped, her pride was obliterated, and somehow she was still grinning like an idiot. "Never better."

"That was pretty sick, actually," Liam said, and the way he looked at her made her forget all about the stupid bull and the bear she hadn't won. "Most people last two seconds. You almost hit twenty."

"Almost," Maya echoed, testing her sore knee. It would hurt like hell at tomorrow's practice, but whatever.

Liam gestured toward the prize wall. "Come on. I've got five bucks. Let's go win you that bear."

Maya laughed, and the sound surprised her—genuine, easy, like she'd just figured something important out. "You know what? Forget the bear."

She started running—actually running—toward the fairway exit, away from the bull, away from the crowd. Toworard whatever came next.

"Hey, wait up!" Liam called after her, and Maya smiled without looking back.