The Palm Reader's Dilemma

Maya's palms were sweating. Like, actually dripping onto her iPhone screen, making the emoji keyboard glitch out. This wasn't even nervous sweat — this was full-blown existential crisis sweat.

"You're going, right?" Riley's text flashed. "Varsity baseball game. Tyler's pitching."

Maya groaned and flopped backward onto her bed. Baseball. Really? Her entire personality was dark academia, vintage thrifting, and maybe becoming a palm reader on TikTok. Baseball was so... not that.

But Tyler was the kind of cute that made people temporarily lose their minds.

The bleachers were packed when she arrived. The whole school seemed to be there, chanting and wearing face paint. Maya felt like she'd walked into the wrong dimension. She spotted Riley waving from the third row, looking completely at home in her letterman jacket.

"You came!" Riley squealed, pulling Maya down. "Tyler's up next!"

Maya pulled out her iPhone, suddenly fascinated by absolutely nothing. Why had she agreed to this? She didn't even understand baseball. Something about hitting balls with sticks and running in circles. Meanwhile, her phone buzzed constantly — her friends posting about being "so baseball mom energy" or whatever.

Then Tyler wound up and threw. The ball connected with something — hopefully a bat — and everyone went feral.

"Did you see that?!" Riley grabbed Maya's arm. "He looked at you!"

Maya's palm tingled. Not in a mystical way — in an oh-god-please-don't-let-me-make-awkward-eye-contact way. She looked down at her hand. The life line looked short. Was that bad? She'd been teaching herself palm reading from YouTube tutorials.

After the game (which they won, apparently), Tyler jogged over, all messy hair and flushed cheeks. Maya's palms started sweating again. Great.

"Hey," he said. "I saw you sitting there. You're Riley's friend, right?"

"Yeah," Maya managed. "I'm Maya. I was... watching. The baseball thing. With the balls."

Tyler laughed. "Smooth. You coming to the party?"

"Maybe," she said. "I have to... check my... palm."

What.

WHAT.

Tyler's expression didn't change. "That's cool. Different." He smiled, and Maya's stomach did something genuinely concerning. "Let me see your hand."

"What?"

"Your palm. You said you read palms, right? Riley told me. Read mine."

Maya stared at him. Then at her phone. Then at Tyler's outstretched hand, which was actually kind of perfect.

"Your life line is long," she improvised. "So you'll live forever. Congratulations."

Tyler laughed, and Maya thought: maybe this whole baseball thing wasn't so terrible after all.

Her phone buzzed. Riley: "I TOLD YOU."

Maya grinned and typed back: "shut up I'm living my best sports life now"