The Green Monster

I was definitely going to puke. That's the only thought cycling through my head while running—actually, more like dying—toward the school entrance. Junior year was supposed to be my glow-up era, not the year I discovered I had zero athletic coordination whatsoever.

"You're not gonna make it!" Maya called from the bleachers, filming my tragic attempt at the mile run for her TikTok. "This is straight-up zombie behavior, Tyler!"

I flipped her off between gasps. My legs were jelly, my lungs were screaming, and somehow my armpits were already sweating through my gray hoodie. A fantastic start to the semester.

Coach Miller—the actual bull of PE teachers, with those biceps that looked like they could crush watermelons—blew his whistle. "Pick it up, Hernandez! Unless you want to be doing laps until graduation!"

Here's the thing about being sixteen: everything feels like life or death, even when it's literally just a required PE credit. But this wasn't just about gym class. This was about proving to myself (and okay, maybe to Jessica Chen, who'd finally noticed my existence last week) that I wasn't just the quiet kid who sat in the back of AP Bio.

I had a plan. A stupid, desperate plan.

Later that afternoon, I found myself at the community center pool, chlorine stinging my nose, staring at the water like it was my nemesis. Swimming was supposed to be easier on your knees than running, right? That's what the internet said. The internet also said eating three cans of spinach before a workout would give you insane energy.

The internet lied.

"Kid, you okay?" The old lifeguard watched me turn progressively greener as I doggy-paddled toward the edge. "You're looking a little flushed."

"I'm good," I wheezed, before accidentally inhaling a mouthful of pool water and spending the next five minutes hacking into a towel. The energy drink I'd chugged earlier, combined with my experimental spinach smoothie, was staging a violent protest in my stomach.

That's when Jessica walked in. Of course she did. Universe hated me.

"Tyler?" She waved, looking unfairly gorgeous in her swim team parka. "You trying out for the team?"

"Something like that," I managed, still wiping spinach-colored residue from my chin. Smooth. Truly smooth.

She grinned. "You know, we need managers. Someone to handle equipment and timing. You'd be good at it."

I stared at her. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah. You're always so organized in Bio. Plus, you saved my grade during the genetics lab." She leaned against the pool fence. "So? Interested?"

The lifeguard snorted. I could feel my face heating up, but not from embarrassment this time.

"Yeah," I said, and for the first time all day, I wasn't faking it. "Yeah, I'm interested."

Sometimes the best plans aren't plans at all. Sometimes you just gotta keep running even when you feel like a zombie, try new things even when they seem terrifying, and trust that maybe—just maybe—things will work out. Also: never trust smoothie recipes from Reddit. Ever.