Storm Over the Court

Maya's hands wouldn't stop shaking. She adjusted her grip on the padel racquet, the neon yellow paddle feeling suddenly foreign in her palms. The semifinals. Against Lucas's team. Of all the garbage timing.

"You good?" Tyler asked, bouncing on his toes beside her. "You look like you're about to pass out."

"I'm chill," Maya lied. She was absolutely not chill. Lucas had posted that story with Cassie yesterday. The Cassie. Meanwhile, Maya had spent three months analyzing every micro-interaction with him, every slight smile in AP Bio, every time he'd held the door a fraction too long. Clearly, she was delusional.

The first point was a disaster. Maya slammed the ball into the net. Lucas didn't even look at her.

Then came the thunder.

The sky opened up like someone had ripped a hole in the atmosphere. Lightning cracked across the clouds in jagged spiderwebs, illuminating everything in this strobe-light weirdness that felt like a glitch in reality.

"Everyone inside!" the coach shouted.

Maya sprinted for the covered area, but something caught her eye—a calico cat huddled under the bleachers, trembling so hard she could see its ribs from three courts away. Without thinking, she ducked underneath the metal seating.

"Hey, kitty," she whispered, reaching slowly. The cat hissed, then seemed to decide this human was better than drowning in a storm, and pressed into her lap. Weirdly, its frantic heartbeat matched her own.

"There you are." Lucas's voice. He crouched beside her, rain plastering his hair to his forehead. "Coach is freaking out."

"The cat was scared," Maya said, suddenly self-conscious.

Lucas studied her for what felt like a year but was probably like seven seconds. "You're always rescuing stuff. Remember that bird in sixth grade?"

Maya's face went hot. "You remember that?"

"I remember everything about you." Lightning flashed again, painting his face in this eerie blue light. "That's kind of the problem."

Maya's brain short-circuited. "What?"

"Cassie's cousin, okay? I was trying to make you jealous since October. It failed spectacularly."

The cat chose that moment to bonk its head against Maya's hand. She laughed, this disbelieving huff of air. "You're the worst at this."

"I know." Lucas grinned, and there it was—that smile, but somehow it was different now. Realer. "So, when we restart this tournament... you want to destroy my team properly?"

"Absolutely."

"Good." He stood up, held out his hand. "Race you to the court?"

Maya grabbed it. "You're going down, Lucas."

She didn't let go until they reached the net. The storm was still raging, but something inside her had settled. Lightning wasn't scary anymore. It was just light.