The Court

My hair refused to cooperate. Again. I stood before the bathroom mirror, painstakingly arranging my curls into something approximating order, while my mom shouted about the padel tournament starting in ten minutes.

"You're going to be late, Maya!"

I grabbed my racket and bolted. The resort club was a social pyramid I hadn't yet figured out how to climb. At the bottom: me, new girl, awkward, obviously trying too hard. At the apex: Jasmine and her squad, impossibly confident, somehow knowing everyone before they even met.

Jasmine was already at the padel court, laughing like she owned the place. Her hair was somehow perfect despite the humidity.

"Maya!" she called. "We need a fourth. You're in."

I froze. Me? Playing with them? This was either my chance to climb the pyramid or the most public humiliation imaginable.

The game started. I'd watched enough YouTube tutorials to fake it. But forty minutes in, I noticed something. Every time Jasmine served, she'd glance at her phone tucked near the net. Every time I returned the ball, her eyes darted toward my bag.

She wasn't checking her phone. She was watching me.

Wait. Was she trying to spy on my game style for tournament brackets? That was both psychotic and weirdly flattering.

Or...

I risked a closer look during a water break. Her phone wasn't even on.

But something had fallen from my bag—my vintage Padres cap, the one my grandpa gave me before he passed. Jasmine kept glancing at it like it was something important.

"You like baseball?" I asked, suddenly right beside her.

She jumped. "What? No. I mean, yes, but that's not—I've been looking for that hat everywhere. My grandpa had one exactly like it. He died when I was eight."

The pyramid suddenly looked different from up close.

"I'm Maya, by the way."

"Jasmine. Sorry I've been weird. I'm not great at this. The friend thing."

"Same."

We were both running from something, I realized. She was just faster at hiding it.

"Wanna hit after the tournament?"

Her smile was real this time. "Absolutely."

My hair was still a disaster. But for the first time all summer, I didn't care.