The Palm Reader's Dugout Confession

Maya's baseball cap was pulled so low over her eyes she could basically see her own future. Not that she wanted to.

"You're literally drowning in that hat," said Jordan, sliding onto the bench beside her. "What's up? You've been weird all week."

Maya sighed. Her palms were sweating through her jeans, which was gross and also exactly why she kept her hands clenched in her lap. The varsity baseball team was warming up on the field, and somewhere out there was Tyler, who'd somehow become Maya's best friend when neither of them were looking, and who she maybe-sort-definitely had feelings for now.

The classic situation. Truly iconic.

"I need to tell you something," Maya said. "And you're gonna laugh or make it weird or both."

Jordan raised an eyebrow. "Try me. I literally once accidentally called my teacher 'mom' in front of everyone. Nothing phases me anymore."

Maya took a breath. "So. I might have told everyone I can read palms."

Jordan stared. "What."

"At Riley's party last month? Everyone was doing those fake personality tests and I panicked and said I could actually read palms and now half the softball team has booked appointments with me and I have NO IDEA what I'm DOING."

Jordan burst out laughing so hard she snorted. "YOU? The person who cried when we watched Coco because you were 'too emotional for spirits'? You're pretending to be mystical?"

"I know!" Maya groaned. "But now Chloe wants hers read before the championship game and she thinks I predicted her last relationship breakthrough and the pressure is REAL."

That's when Tyler walked up, dirt smudged on his cheek from practice, eyes bright like they always were after he'd been pitching. "Hey, what's so funny?"

Maya's stomach did that embarrassing flip thing. "Nothing. Just Maya being Maya." Jordan smirked.

"Actually," Maya said, before she could overthink it, "I'm doing palm readings now. Want yours done?"

Tyler's eyes lit up. "For real? That's actually sick." He sat down and held out his hand, completely unbothered, like having your friend read your palm in the middle of a baseball dugout was totally normal.

Maya's palm was damp against his when she took it. She had no idea what palm lines meant. She'd looked up exactly zero tutorials.

"Okay so," she said, studying his hand like it held the answers to her physics final. "This line here means you're gonna do something really brave soon. And this tiny one means someone's gonna finally tell you the truth about something important."

Tyler looked at her, really looked at her, and Maya realized she wasn't reading his palm anymore. She was just telling him what she needed to say.

"Maya?" he said softly.

"Yeah?"

"Your hands are shaking."

"Yeah," she whispered. "They do that."

"That's okay," he said, and he didn't pull away. "Mine do that too. Sometimes."

Jordan was suddenly very interested in her phone. The baseball coach called Tyler back to practice. But for a second, no one moved.

"Later?" Tyler asked.

"Later," Maya promised.

She watched him jog back to the mound, adjusting his baseball cap, and realized her future might not be so scary after all. Even if she still had to figure out what palm lines actually meant before Chloe's appointment tomorrow.

Jordan bumped her shoulder. "So. You predicted he'd like you back, or...?"

"Shut up."

"That's a yes. I knew you were actually psychic."