The Goldfish Batter

Jordan's phone buzzed in his pocket—third time this inning. He ignored it, keeping his eyes on the batter. The iphone burned against his leg like a guilty secret, a constant reminder that everyone at school was probably talking about him right now.

"You gonna check that or what?" Maya nudged him with her elbow. She'd been sitting beside him at every baseball game since April, her blue streaked hair bright against the dull gray bleachers. "Bet it's Emma."

"Probably." Jordan shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

Last week, Emma had posted a screenshot of their DMs everywhere. Now the whole school knew Jordan had sent her a goldfish emoji at 2 AM, thinking it was funny. She'd captioned it "look who's obsessed lol" and suddenly he was the pathetic boy who couldn't take a hint.

The batter swung—missed. The crowd groaned.

"That's three strikeouts," Maya said. "He's done."

"Yeah." Jordan's stomach knotted. "Like me."

"Dude, no." Maya turned to face him fully. "Emma's being basic. Everyone knows she screenshotted that because she was actually jealous you were talking to Sarah."

Jordan blinked. "What?"

"Oh my god, boys are so oblivious." Maya rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Sarah's liked you since seventh grade. Emma's threatened by that goldfish emoji because it was actually kinda cute and she knows you weren't trying to be weird."

The crowd erupted as someone hit a home run. Jordan barely registered it.

"Wait, seriously?"

"Seriously." Maya nudged him again. "Also, Sarah's three rows down. She keeps looking back here like she wants to say something but you're too busy moping."

Jordan twisted around. There she was—Sarah, in her oversized jersey, catching his eye and immediately looking away, her face flushing pink.

His iphone buzzed again. A notification from Sarah: *hey, are you at the game?*

Jordan's thumbs hovered over the screen. The goldfish emoji sat in his recently used, mocking him. But maybe—just maybe—it hadn't been a mistake after all.

He typed back: *yeah, section 12. save me a spot?*

Three dots danced immediately. *always am :)*

Maya smirked. "Told you."