The Zombie on Court 4

I shuffled into the Padel Club at 7 AM on a Saturday, feeling like the walking dead. Three AP classes, two failed crush attempts, and my parents' divorce proceedings had turned me into a certified zombie. My eyes burned, my brain felt like mush, and I'd forgotten what fun felt like sometime around mid-October.

"You look like you died three days ago," Marcus said, tossing me a racquet. He'd been my best friend since seventh grade, back when our biggest worry was whether we'd make the basketball team. Now he was trying to drag me out of my funk using his new obsession: padel.

"Pretty much," I mumbled, watching the ball bounce nervously on the court.

"Dude, you need this. You've been holed up in your room studying for weeks. Your mom called my mom worried about you."

The guilt hit harder than any ball could. I took my position on the court, expecting to suck. I hadn't played a sport since sophomore year, and even then, I was mediocre.

But something weird happened when the game started. The first smash I sent sailing past Marcus? Pure instinct. The way I read the angles, anticipated the glass walls? Like I'd been playing my whole life. Twenty minutes in, I was sweating, breathing hard, and for the first time in months, not thinking about my GPA or my parents' lawyers.

"Since when do you play like that?" Marcus asked, actually impressed for once.

I shrugged, wiping sweat from my forehead. "Since I stopped caring about anything else."

We played for two hours straight. I beat him 6-2, 6-1. The zombie who'd walked in was gone, replaced by someone who remembered how to feel alive. As we grabbed smoothies afterward, Marcus checked his phone.

"Hey, there's a tournament next weekend. Doubles. You and me?"

I looked at my reflection in the shop window – circles under my eyes, messy hair, but something different in my eyes. "Yeah," I said. "Yeah, we're doing it."

For the first time in forever, I had something to look forward to that wasn't a test score or a college application. The zombie apocalypse could wait – I had a padel tournament to win.