Sweaty Palms & Switching Sides

The sun beat down on the outdoor padel court as Mia wiped her sweaty palms on her neon tennis skirt for the third time. This was supposed to be casual Friday hits with the new transfer students, but her stomach was doing literal backflips.

"You coming, Mia?" called Tyler from across the net, effortlessly bouncing a padel ball on his racket like he'd been playing the sport his whole life—which, considering he'd moved from Barcelona three weeks ago, he probably had.

Mia's baseball cap sat backward on her head, her signature look since eighth grade when she'd pitched that perfect game against Madison Middle. But somehow, standing here in her usual athletic gear, she felt like a total fraud. Everyone knew Mia Rodriguez as the baseball girl. The softball captain. The girl who lived in cleats and Jersey dirt stains.

No one knew she'd been secretly watching padel tutorials on TikTok until 2 AM every night this past month.

"Yeah, yeah, coming," she said, forcing herself to sound chill even though her palms were sweating through her grip on the rented racket.

Then she saw it—a calico cat curled up on a bench beneath the swaying palm trees that lined the court, watching her with what looked suspiciously like judgment.

Great. Now even random stray cats were doubting her life choices.

"Your form's all baseball," Tyler said, suddenly beside her with this easy grin that made something weird happen in her chest. "You're swinging like you're trying to knock it out of the park. Padel's more about... finesse."

He moved behind her, adjusting her stance with gentle pressure on her shoulders. "Bend your knees more. And relax your grip—you're gonna break something."

Mia's heart was pounding so hard she was sure he could hear it. This wasn't supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to be the awkward beginner again. She wasn't supposed to have sweaty palms and zero chill around the cute Spanish transfer student who smelled like coconut whatever and confidence.

"Like this?" she asked, hitting the ball way too hard. It sailed over the fence, startling the cat.

Tyler laughed. "Better. But you're still thinking baseball."

"Maybe I am," she said, surprising herself. "Maybe that's not a bad thing."

And then it hit her—she could be both. The baseball girl AND the padel beginner. The cool confident captain AND the one who got nervous around cute boys with nice smiles and coconut shampoo. She didn't have to choose.

"Teach me properly," she said, finding her real smile. "But after that cat moves. He's judging my technique."