Summer Lightning at the Padel Court

Maya's phone buzzed with another Snapchat from her old friends back in Portland. Meanwhile, she was stuck in suburban New Jersey, summer before ninth grade, knowing absolutely nobody. Her mom's solution? 'Join the rec center padel league! It's like tennis but cooler.' Maya had rolled her eyes so hard she practically saw her brain.

First day at the padel courts, and already she'd managed to trip over her own racket. But then she saw him—Ethan, the cute guy with the messy dark hair and jersey that said FOX across the back. Probably some sports nickname, or maybe his last name. Whatever. He was laughing with his friends, being all confident and perfect, while Maya was over here struggling to remember if padel even used the same scoring system as tennis.

'You gonna join or just stare at Fox all day?' Some girl with bright blue hair asked. Her username said LIGHTNING_CHICK. 'I'm Zoe. That's Ethan—we call him Fox because he's sly as hell on the court.'

Maya felt her face burn. 'I'm Maya. And I wasn't staring.'

'No? Could've fooled me.' Zoe grinned. 'C'mon, we need a fourth for mixed doubles. Fox and his brother against me and you.'

The game was chaos. Maya missed everything. Her racket felt like a dead fish in her hands. But Fox—Ethan—kept giving her these little encouraging nods, like he actually believed she could improve. Which was annoying because he was being nice, and worse because she wanted to impress him.

Afterward, they all sat at the picnic table. Fox pulled out these neon orange gummies. 'Vitamin D supplements,' he said, catching Maya's confusion. 'My mom's holistic phase. Want one?'

'Sure,' Maya said, popping one into her mouth. 'My mom's still in her vitamin C obsession phase, so I feel you.'

Thunder cracked. The sky went dark like someone had flipped a switch.

'Lightning,' Zoe said, grabbing her bag. 'We should probably bail.'

But nobody moved. The rain started pouring, and suddenly they were all running toward the rec center's overhang, laughing and soaked. Maya found herself squeezed next to Fox, their shoulders touching, both breathing hard from the sprint.

'You know,' he said, 'you actually have pretty good form. You just need to stop overthinking it.'

'Maybe you could teach me,' Maya heard herself say, feeling bold and stupid at the same time.

Fox smiled, and it was genuine. 'Every day this week? Same time?'

'Maya texted her Portland friends: sorry gotta go. coach is calling. And as she watched the lightning crack across the sky, she thought maybe suburban New Jersey wouldn't be so terrible after all.