Serving Up Secrets

Maya stood at the padel court, gripping her racquet like it might save her from total social destruction. The orange netting shimmered in the afternoon sun, mocking her. She'd only agreed to come because Harper—volcano-haired, effortlessly cool Harper—had asked, and Maya was physically incapable of saying no to someone who actually noticed her existence.

"You gonna serve or just stand there looking like a vitamin commercial?" teased Lucas, bouncing on his toes like he mainlined espresso for breakfast.

"Shut up, I'm thinking," Maya shot back, but her voice cracked. Classic.

The real reason she'd been distracted wasn't Lucas or the game. It was the spying. Someone had been watching her. Not like, cute-crush watching, more like *actual* surveillance. For three days, she'd found little things out of place: her bedroom window left slightly open, her sketchbook moved to the wrong page, her vitamin gummies rearranged by color. Her brain had spiraled from "burglar" to "government spy" to "maybe my mom's finally checking if I'm actually doing homework."

Harper was watching her now from across the court, head tilted. "Everything cool?"

"Yeah, just... lots on my mind."

"Wanna talk about it? After we crush these losers?" Harper gestured at Lucas and his crew, who were currently doing some ridiculous victory dance despite having scored exactly zero points.

Maya's stomach did that thing it always did around Harper—like a bear waking up from hibernation, confused and hungry. She realized she didn't want to talk about the creepy spy situation. She wanted to talk about Harper's hair, about how Harper always smelled like coconut, about how Harper had once drawn a tiny bear on Maya's homework during math last week and Maya hadn't erased it.

The orange peel Harper had tossed earlier lay near the baseline. Maya stepped toward it, then away from it, then—

"Incoming!" Lucas served. The ball ricocheted off the back wall, hit the corner, and bounced toward Maya. She swung, connected beautifully, and watched it sail directly into Harper's face.

Silence.

Harper rubbed her nose. "That was... actually kind of impressive."

"I'm so sorry—"

"You're playing tomorrow," Harper said, grinning. "With me. And bring those vitamin gummies. I need energy to deal with Lucas."

Maya's heart did something illegal. The spying could wait. The panic could wait. She had a padel date.

"It's a plan."