Serve and Social Suicide

I'm standing on the padel court at the community center, my grip sweating through my borrowed racquet. This is it — my first time playing, and of course, my cousin Maya decided it would be hilarious to sign me up for the teen tournament with zero warning.

"You got this, Alex!" she yells from the sidelines, filming me with her phone like I'm some viral moment waiting to happen. "Just hit the ball!"

Easy for her to say. She's not the one whose entire social existence at Northwood High could crumble if she embarrassed herself in front of Jake Miller, who's currently stretching on the adjacent court looking unfairly athletic.

The game starts somehow, and I'm actually not terrible — until the second set, when my phone starts buzzing in my bag. I ignore it until the ball bounces near the bench where I left my stuff, and I catch a glimpse of the screen: MOM calling.

Oh no.

I lunge for my phone between points, because last time Mom called three times in a row, my grandma was in the hospital. But instead of a medical emergency, I hear: "Alex, your sister's cat got into your room and knocked over the goldfish bowl! There's water everywhere and Fishsticks is flopping on the carpet!"

"Fishsticks?!" I shriek, forgetting I'm still holding my racquet like a microphone.

The entire court goes silent. Jake Miller actually stops playing.

"Wait," someone calls out. "Your goldfish is named Fishsticks?"

"And it's on the floor alive?!" someone else adds.

I'm frozen. This is it — my mortifying epoch. But then Jake walks over, grinning. "Dude, my cat once ate my hamster. Want help catching it?"

"I should probably go save my fish," I say, face burning.

"Yeah, yeah. Go be a hero." He waves me off like this is completely normal. "We're finishing up anyway."

I grab my stuff and race to the parking lot, Maya cackling behind me. But later that night, after Fishsticks is miraculously recovered and back in his bowl (with a cover now), my phone buzzes.

Unknown number: hey this is jake from padel. anyway fishsticks is a solid name. tourney next week? 😂

I stare at my screen, grinning like an idiot. Maybe my social suicide attempt was actually my origin story. The fish lived. Jake thinks I'm funny. And somehow, I'm already excited for next weekend.