The Padel Court Pyramid

Maya's phone screen was cracked in three places, but her **iphone** still lit up with notifications. That was the problem—her social life was entirely contained in this glass rectangle, and right now, it was blowing up.

"LMAO your mom's selling those essential oil pyramid candles now?" Sasha's text read.

Maya groaned. Her mom had joined another **pyramid** scheme—her third one this year. This time it was "Crystal Pyramid Wellness," and their entire living room was now filled with overpriced candles that supposedly "aligned your chakras." The embarrassing part wasn't just the candles; it was that her mom had posted about them on Facebook, tagging Maya in the photos.

She grabbed her racket and headed to the **padel** courts where the popular kids hung out. Padel was like tennis but cooler—enclosed with glass walls, faster-paced, and everyone who was anyone played it. Maya had been practicing in her backyard with her dad's old racket, watching YouTube tutorials until her wrist ached, all just to fit in.

When she arrived, Jake was there. Jake, who had that effortless swagger that made everything look easy, including padel.

"Hey Maya," he called out. "Wanna hit?"

Her heart did that stupid flutter thing. "Sure."

They played, and Maya was actually holding her own until her phone buzzed in her pocket. She glanced at it mid-swing and missed the ball completely. It hit the glass wall behind her with an embarrassing clatter.

"Everything good?" Jake asked.

"My mom," she muttered, then immediately regretted it. Why did she say that? Now he'd ask, and she'd have to explain the candles.

Instead, he just nodded. "My dad tried to get me to sell those protein shakes last year. The whole pyramid thing? It's rough."

Maya looked up, surprised. "Yeah. It's humiliating."

Jake laughed. "Dude, last year at the spring festival, I got chased by a **bull**. Literally. An actual bull escaped from the rodeo and I had to climb a fence in front of everyone. Talk about humiliating."

Maya cracked up. "No way."

"Way. There's video somewhere. Don't look it up."

The game continued, but something shifted. Maya stopped worrying about her phone, about her mom's candles, about whether she looked cool enough. She just played, laughing when she messed up, cheering when Jake made a good shot.

Afterward, as they were packing up, Jake said, "You're pretty good. You should come back tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Plus," he grinned, "I need someone to distract me from the bull video resurfacing on TikTok."

Maya smiled, pulling out her phone. The screen was still cracked, the notifications from Sasha still rolling in. But somehow, none of it mattered as much anymore.

"Text me the time," she said.

And for the first time, she put her phone in her pocket without checking it.