The Pitch

Maya adjusted her baseball cap, tucking her hair underneath. On the mound, she could feel everyone watching—her teammates, the coach, definitely Jason in the dugout. She was the only girl on the team, and sometimes she still felt like she'd snuck into a club she didn't belong to.

"You got this, Mays!" Jason called out. He'd started sitting with her at lunch. He'd started texting her memes at 11 PM. She wasn't reading too much into it. Definitely not.

She wound up and threw—a perfect strike. The batter swung, missed, and Maya let herself exhale.

After the game, the team voted unanimously: pool party at Tyler's house to celebrate the win. Maya's stomach dropped. She'd been avoiding the pool situation for months.

"You coming?" Jason asked, walking beside her to the parking lot. "Tyler's got this huge inground pool. We're doing laps, supposedly, but mostly just chicken fights and trying to drown Tyler."

"Yeah," Maya lied. "Sounds fun."

She didn't go home though. She couldn't face her mom's questions about why she wasn't swimming with her team. Instead she walked to the old rec center, where the outdoor pool stayed open late for lap swim. Seven dollars for an hour of peace.

The water hit her like a second skin, cool and quiet. No expectations. No proving herself. Just the rhythm of her strokes, back and forth, back and forth, until her arms ached and her thoughts finally quieted.

On her walk home, a calico cat trailed her from three blocks back. Maya crouched down, extending a hand. The cat butted her head against Maya's palm, demanding attention.

"You following me or what?" Maya whispered. The cat purred like a tiny engine.

At home, Barnaby—her family's ancient golden retriever—met her at the door, tail going haywire. The cat vanished into the bushes. Maya buried her face in Barnaby's fur, breathing him in. He didn't care if she struck out or if Jason was just being friendly or if she was different from everyone else. He just cared that she was home.

Her phone buzzed. Jason: missed you at the party. water was cold anyway. next time?

Maya smiled into Barnaby's neck. Next time, she'd go. Next time, she'd show up in her swimsuit and let them see all of her—scrappy and scared and still figuring it out. Barnaby licked her chin, and she laughed, and somewhere in the distance, the cat cried out into the night.