Serve and Secrets

Maya's stomach did that stupid flip thing every time she saw him at the **padel** court. Jake. With his messy dark hair and that way he laughed like he didn't care who was watching.

"You're staring again," Chloe whispered, nudging her with an elbow. "Not subtle. At all."

"Shut up," Maya hissed, but her face was already burning. She adjusted her backward baseball cap, suddenly hyperaware that she was wearing her dad's old **hat** from like, 2012. So embarrassing. Jake definitely had cool hats. Or just cool everything.

He was holding an **orange**, tossing it between his hands like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Maya found herself weirdly fixated on it—the way his fingers caught the light, how concentrated he looked, like this orange was The Most Important Object.

"He's looking over here," Chloe announced, grabbing Maya's arm like she needed bracing.

"Don't look don't look—"

"Too late."

Jake was definitely looking. Maya's heart launched into her throat. He was walking toward them. The orange was still in his hand.

"Hey," he said, like it was casual. "You're Maya, right? From Mr. Harrison's English?"

"Uh, yeah?" Her voice cracked. Jake Thompson knew her name.

"Cool." He gestured vaguely. "I saw you... I noticed you're always reading during lunch."

She waited for him to make fun of her. Instead:

"What're you reading?"

She blinked. "The Hunger Games. Again."

"Same." He grinned, and suddenly the nervous orange tossing made sense. He was nervous too.

Maya's chest went all floaty. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah. I mean, who isn't?" Jake rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime? Maybe grab boba after school?"

Behind them, Chloe made a sound like a dying whale. Maya stepped on her foot.

"Yeah," Maya managed, and she was grinning so hard her face hurt. "That would be... yeah."

"Cool." Jake backed away a little, still clutching his orange like a safety net. "I'll, uh, find you."

As he walked back to his friends, Maya noticed Jake's friend leaning in, probably demanding details. She saw Jake shake his head, smiling.

"You just got asked out by Jake Thompson," Chloe said, awed. "And I'm pretty sure he was **spy**ing on you during lunch for weeks."

Maya touched her hat, grinning at the court where everyone was laughing and playing like this wasn't the most embarrassing and wonderful moment of her entire life. "Yeah," she said. "I think I'm okay with that."