The Thunder in My Chest

I felt like a zombie walking into school Monday morning—three hours of sleep does that to you. Tyler's epic Fortnite marathon had seemed like a brilliant idea at midnight. By 7 AM, not so much. My brain was mush, my eyes burned, and I'm pretty sure I was walking into walls.

Then I saw Maya by her locker, and suddenly my heart was doing way too much. She was laughing with her friends, hair falling perfectly over her shoulder like she'd never had a bad hair day in her life. I'd been crushing on her since seventh grade, and somehow I was still invisible.

"Hey, Marcus!" She waved. Actually waved. At me.

I froze. My brain short-circuited. What was the protocol here? Play it cool? Wave back like a normal human being? Instead I just stood there like an idiot until her friends giggled and she turned away.

Face, meet palm.

The day got worse. Mr. Harrison announced that Friday's pep rally would feature a mechanical bull—because apparently our school's budget was on something. I overheard Maya telling Jake she'd definitely be there. Jake, who played lacrosse and had that effortless cool thing down.

I became obsessed. I needed to make a move, show her I wasn't just the quiet kid in AP Bio who occasionally said words. But how?

Friday came, and the gym was packed. The mechanical bull sat in the center like a plastic beast from some budget rodeo. Students rode it one by one, getting thrown off in seconds. Jake went—stayed on for twelve seconds, flexed for his adoring crowd.

Then Maya climbed on.

Something about watching her laugh as she got tossed around, hair flying, fearless and grinning—it hit me like lightning. She wasn't perfect. She was just Maya. And here I was, wasting high school being terrified of talking to a girl who sometimes waved at me in hallways.

I didn't ride the bull. I didn't do anything epic or movie-worthy. But afterward, I found her near the bleachers.

"You were good up there," I said. My voice actually worked.

"Marcus!" She grinned. "I was terrible, don't even lie."

"Yeah, but you made it look fun."

"It WAS fun." She stepped closer. "Hey, a bunch of us are going to Benny's after. You should come."

The zombie feeling was gone. For the first time in forever, I felt completely, terrifyingly awake.