The Bull's Truth

Marcus spent twenty minutes on his hair that morning, trying to get that effortless look that everyone else at Jefferson High seemed to pull off naturally. His mom called it the I-just-rolled-out-of-bed style, but for Marcus, it required military precision.

"You going to baseball tryouts?" His little sister Chloe yelled from downstairs.

Marcus grabbed his glove. "Yeah."

He didn't mention that his hands were shaking.

Everyone expected Marcus to make varsity. His dad had played. His older brother had played. The whole baseball legacy thing hung over his head like a storm cloud. But Marcus had a secret: he hated baseball. The pressure, the perfection, the way Coach Miller's face turned red when someone missed a ground ball.

His golden retriever, Buster, met him at the gate, tail wagging like crazy. Buster was the only one who didn't expect anything from him.

"At least someone's happy to see me," Marcus said, scratching behind the dog's ears.

At school, Tyler—aka The Bull because he charged through life like an angry rhino—was already holding court near the gym.

"Marcus!" Tyler yelled. "Ready to crush it at tryouts?"

Marcus forced a smile. "Totally."

But his feet dragged. He found himself staring at the padel courts behind the gym instead. The new sport nobody talked about. The one where kids laughed when they missed shots, where nobody's dad had played back in the day.

Buster sat beside him, ears perked.

"What if I just... don't?" Marcus whispered.

The Bull spotted him. "Yo, Marcus! You coming or what?"

Marcus looked at his dog. Then at the padel courts. Then back at the gym doors where everyone expected him to be.

"Actually," Marcus said, his voice stronger than he felt, "I'm gonna check something else out."

Tyler's face dropped. "What?"

Marcus walked toward the padel courts, Buster trotting beside him. Some kids playing there waved him over.

"Wanna join?" a girl with purple streaks in her hair asked. "We're just messing around."

Marcus set down his baseball glove. "Yeah. Actually, I do."

For the first time in months, he wasn't worried about his hair or living up to anyone's expectations. He was just playing.

Sometimes, Marcus thought, you have to walk away from the game everyone expects you to play to find the one you actually love.