The Goldfish Memorizer

I felt like a zombie walking into first period, running on three hours of sleep because doom-scrolling TikTok until 2 AM felt like a better idea than actually sleeping. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, matching the static in my brain.

"You alive, dude?" Marcus asked, spinning around in his desk. He was the kind of friend who'd notice if you were off, even when you were trying to play it cool.

"Barely," I muttered, dropping into my seat. "My goldfish has a longer attention span than me right now."

"At least your goldfish doesn't have to survive Mr. Harrison's chemistry lecture," he grinned.

Then she walked in. Maya. The girl who'd transferred last month and sat two rows ahead, somehow making the beat-up school uniform look like a fashion statement. I'd been working up the courage to talk to her for weeks.

"Anyone hitting the padel courts after school?" she asked, turning toward our row. "Looking for people to hit with."

My brain short-circuited. Padel? Like, the racquet sport? Since when did I play padel? I didn't even own proper shoes.

"I'm in!" Marcus said before I could even process. "What about you, bro?"

Everyone was looking at me. Maya's eyes met mine—warm, expectant. This was it. The moment I'd been secretly hoping for and actively dreading.

"Uh, yeah," I managed, trying to sound like someone who definitely knew what padel was and wasn't currently having a minor panic attack. "I'll be there."

Maya smiled. Actually smiled. At me. "Awesome. See you guys there."

She turned back around, and I slumped into my chair, heart racing. What had I just agreed to?

"Bro, you don't even know how to play," Marcus whispered, laughing.

"I'm aware," I whispered back. "Help me."

"I got you. We'll go swimming in the deep end together, yeah?"

"Did you just reference your own metaphor?"

"Shut up, I'm trying to be inspirational."

I laughed despite myself. Maybe this would be a disaster. Maybe I'd embarrass myself completely in front of Maya. But as Mr. Harrison started writing formulas on the board, I realized something—I wasn't feeling like a zombie anymore. Sometimes you just have to say yes, even when you have no idea what you're doing.

Besides, how hard could padel really be?