The Padel Apocalypse

Leo felt like a literal zombie. Three consecutive nights of doom-scrolling until 3 AM would do that to a guy.

"You look dead," Maya said, slamming her locker shut next to him.

"Thriving," Leo croaked, adjusting his hoodie.

"Seriously. You trying out for padel today?"

Leo froze. Padel? The trendy racquet sport all the cool kids played? He'd been watching Maya from across the cafeteria since September, and she'd finally noticed his existence.

"Yeah. Absolutely. I love padel." He had no idea what padel even was.

"Sweet. I'll be there." She walked away, and Leo exhaled.

After school, he sprinted to the sports complex. His older brother had once played tennis, so he figured he could fake it. Wrong. The court was smaller, the walls were in play, and everyone moved with this effortless aggression Leo definitely didn't possess.

During a break, he grabbed a smoothie from the vending machine. Big mistake. It was the nastiest shade of brown-green, like someone had blended a lawn with pond water. He chugged it anyway because he was dying.

"What is that?" Maya appeared beside him, laughing. "You're drinking swamp water."

"It's... healthy?" Leo squinted at the label. "Spinach, kale, something called spirulina—"

"Gross." She grinned. "Here." She handed him a slice of papaya from her container. "Actual food that tastes like food."

Their fingers brushed. Leo's heart did this embarrassing flutter thing.

"Thanks."

"You're actually not terrible at padel," she said. "For a zombie."

"I'm not a zombie," he protested.

"You literally have smoothie mustache." She wiped it off his face with her thumb, and Leo forgot how to speak.

"Running laps! Coach's orders!" someone yelled.

They ran together, side by side, and Leo decided that maybe turning into a zombie was worth it.