The Fox Court Mirage

Maya's iphone buzzed against her thigh, jarring her from the padel court trance. She'd been staring at Jake for forty-five straight minutes—his backswing, the way his hair fell when he served, how he laughed with Sarah while they stretched against the fence. The new girl. The shiny-haired new girl who'd somehow already infiltrated their lunch table like she'd been there since kindergarten.

"Earth to May?" Lena waved a racquet in her face. "You gonna play or just simulate Jake's entire existence mentally?"

"Shut up," Maya muttered, but her cheeks burned. Lena knew everything. They'd been best friends since that disastrous sixth-grade camping trip where a bear had raided their cooler and they'd bonded over sharing the last granola bar while hyperventilating in their tent.

Now sophomore year was everything everyone warned about. The friend groups were fracturing like ice on a lake. People who'd been tight since elementary school were suddenly strangers with new haircuts and different clothes and secret group chats Maya definitely wasn't part of.

Her dad's old dog, Barnaby, had more stable relationships. He'd greet the mailman with the same enthusiasm he had three years ago. Why couldn't humans be like that? Why did everything have to twist into something complicated and weird?

"Fox's den," Coach Reynolds yelled, pointing to court four. "Switch it up."

Fox. That's what Sarah had called her yesterday, supposedly a compliment after Maya made some sharp comment about Jake's terrible puns. "You're such a fox, Maya, honestly." But it hadn't felt like one. It had felt like being studied through a microscope, like Sarah was cataloging everyone's traits for future use.

The match ended. Jake walked over with Sarah, both laughing.

"Hey Maya," Jake said. "We're going to get boba. You coming?"

Her heart did that embarrassing flutter thing it always did. She opened her mouth to say yes—

"Actually," Sarah said, linking her arm through Jake's, "we were gonna invite Lena too. She's cool."

Lena, who was Maya's actual best friend. Lena, who Sarah had pretended not to know two weeks ago. Lena, whose eyebrows raised like *oh, this is happening now?*

"Sure," Maya heard herself say. "Let me just—"

She pulled out her iphone, swiped to their group chat. The one from summer. The one that had gone silent three weeks ago.

*You coming or what?* she typed to Lena.

Lena's response appeared instantly. *I'd rather eat glass with the bear from sixth grade.*

Maya laughed out loud. Some things didn't change. Some things were still real.

"Actually," Maya said, sliding her phone into her pocket. "I promised my dad I'd walk Barnaby. He's been alone all day."

Jake looked disappointed, for like, a second. Sarah didn't look anything at all.

"Maybe tomorrow," Jake said.

"Maybe," Maya agreed, but she was already walking toward the exit with Lena.

"Barnaby's going to lose his mind when he sees you," Lena said. "You haven't walked him in like, a week."

"He'll survive. He's a dog. Their love is unconditional. Unlike everyone else at this school."

"Not everyone," Lena said quietly.

Maya looked at her. Her best friend. The one constant thing in a world that kept tilting sideways.

"Yeah," Maya said, and they walked out into the gold afternoon together. "Not everyone."