Summer Smash

Maya's mom dropped the bomb two weeks into summer: they were getting a dog. A doodle mix, because apparently that's what suburban families did now.

Maya didn't care about the dog. She cared about her hair, specifically the unfortunate perm she'd gotten two days before freshman orientation because Pinterest said "big hair was back." Spoiler: it wasn't.

Three months later, her hair had finally relaxed into something resembling intentional waves. She'd spent the whole summer avoiding people, avoiding mirrors, and definitely avoiding the padel courts that every single somehow-cool teenager seemed to migrate to daily.

"You should go," her best friend Jules said over FaceTime. "Ethan and his crew are always there."

Maya rolled her eyes so hard it hurt. "Ethan, who I've literally spoken to twice in my life?"

"Twice more than zero! Live a little, Mare. Your hair looks fine, I promise."

Fine. Fine. Maybe she'd go. Once. Just to prove she could.

The courts were behind the community center, next to the skate park where middle schoolers failed at kickflips and older kids sat on the hood of their cars. Maya clutched her borrowed racquet like it might detonate.

"Maya?"

She turned. Ethan stood there, sweat-dampened hair flopping adorably over one eye, holding two padel racquets. "You play?"

"Uh. Define 'play.'"

His laugh did something annoying to her stomach. "Come on. I'll teach you. But warning: I'm undefeated."

"Against who, your grandma?"

"She's actually cutthroat. Don't diss Grandma."

An hour later, Maya was sore, sweaty, and somehow batting .500 against the undefeated Ethan Chen. Her frizzy perm-hair was completely destroyed, bouncing in every direction, and she was laughing so hard her ribs hurt.

"You're actually good," Ethan said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Tomorrow? Same time?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Unless you're scared of losing."

"In your dreams, Chen."

Walking home, Maya's phone buzzed. A photo from her mom: the new dog, a ridiculously fluffy golden doodle puppy, sleeping on Maya's bed. Caption: "Barnaby says you're home late. Everything okay?"

Maya grinned,头发 everywhere, racquet over her shoulder, ready for tomorrow.