Strikeout in the Rain

Maya's palms were sweating, and not because of the humidity hanging over the baseball field like a wet blanket. She was sitting next to Ethan, who smelled like coconut sunscreen and confidence, and she'd just realized the spinach salad from lunch had taken up permanent residence between her front teeth.

"You coming to Jake's party tonight?" Ethan asked, turning those stupidly perfect hazel eyes on her.

"Yeah!" Maya said, then immediately grimaced. Too eager. Way too eager. She casualled it up with a closed-lip smile. "I mean, probably. If my mom's cool with it."

Lightning crackled across the sky, followed by a low rumble of thunder that made the concession stand rattle. Perfect. The universe really wanted her social life to remain a disaster.

The baseball game had been dragging for two innings. Tyler's older brother was up at bat — the same Tyler who had posted that TikTok of Maya falling up the stairs last week, which had somehow accumulated 47,000 views. Her brother Marcus, apparently oblivious to her suffering, had invited him to sit with their group.

"Yo, check this out," Marcus said, pointing at the sky.

Another lightning bolt split the clouds, bright purple against the gray. The crowd oohed like they were watching fireworks instead of impending doom.

"Game's gonna get called," Ethan predicted. "Wanna bail? We could grab boba before the storm hits."

Maya's heart did this embarrassing little flutter thing. But she also needed to check her teeth like, yesterday.

"Actually, I should hit the restroom first," she said. "Be right back."

She speed-walked to the concession stand bathroom, where fluorescent lighting revealed the horror show: definitely spinach. An entire tiny forest of it. She scrubbed it away with a paper towel, took a deep breath, and pulled out her phone to check her reflection one more time.

Her screen lit up with a notification from Jake: *party's cancelled btw. power's out at my place*

Maya stared at it for three seconds. Then she burst out laughing. The universe wasn't trying to ruin her life — it was just chaotic and messy and sometimes storms cancelled parties whether you had spinach in your teeth or not.

She walked back to the stands just as the first fat raindrops began to fall. Ethan was still waiting, grinning like he'd been waiting for this moment all day.

"Boba?" he asked.

"Boba," Maya agreed, and somewhere in the distance, thunder rattled the concession stand again like an applause.