Third Base Secrets

Maya adjusted the strap of her backpack, pretending to be deeply interested in the concessions menu while actually keeping her eyes locked on the varsity baseball field. This was day four of Operation Best Friend Investigation, and if that wasn't the most embarrassing thing she'd ever done, she didn't know what was.

"You're being weird," said Liam, appearing beside her with two slushies. "Again."

"I'm not being weird. I'm appreciating America's pastime."

"You hate sports. You literally call gym class 'legalized torture.'"

Maya ignored him. Her target—a hoodie she'd recognize anywhere, one she'd begged to borrow for months—was moving along the third base line. But the person wearing it wasn't who she expected. Sofia, her actual best friend since kindergarten, wasn't standing there. It was some random guy from the swim team.

And he was wearing Sofia's hoodie.

The betrayal hit like a physical thing. Maya had spent the past two weeks basically being a spy—which sounded cooler in her head than it actually was—trying to figure out why Sofia was suddenly flaky, why she was always "busy" during their usual Friday FaceTime sessions, why she'd ghosted their group chat three nights in a row. And now this.

"She gave him my hoodie," Maya hissed. "Well, technically it was her hoodie, but I called dibs last—"

"Who?"

"SOFIA. That's literally her limited edition vintage hoodie from that thrift store downtown. The one we found together. The one she promised I could borrow for the concert next month."

"Maybe she has a twin?" Liam suggested.

"OR maybe she's been lying about everything and has a whole secret life and—"

"Maya?"

She froze. That voice. Behind her.

Sofia stood there in her swim team warm-ups, wet hair dripping onto her shoulders, holding a mesh bag of gear. She looked like she'd just come from swimming practice, which made zero sense because Sofia didn't swim. Sofia hated getting her face wet. Sofia once refused to go to a water park because of "splash physics."

"What are you doing here?" they both said simultaneously.

"I joined the swim team," Sofia said, like it was normal. "Two weeks ago."

"But—you hate swimming. You literally—"

"I know. I was trying something new. Because I knew I'd see you at baseball games—because you're obviously watching Tyler—and I wanted to actually be good at something you care about. But then I realized swimming sucks, so."

"I'm not watching Tyler," Maya said automatically.

"You're literally at every baseball game."

"That's different."

"How?"

"It just is."

They stood there for a second, and then Sofia started laughing. Not her usual fake laugh, but real laugh, the one where she snorted and had to bend over.

"We're both spies," Sofia said, wiping her eyes. "You're trying to figure out why I'm acting weird, and I'm trying to figure out why you keep showing up at baseball games when you hate sports, and—wait, whose hoodie is that?"

"That's what I'M asking," Maya said. "Because it looks exactly like—"

"It IS mine," said the swimmer guy, walking up. "Sofia gave it to me when I forgot mine for the meet yesterday. Are you Maya? She said you'd be here."

Sofia's face went bright red. "I was going to introduce you guys. He's on the swim team with me. Well, kind of. I'm barely on the team because I suck at swimming, but—"

"You joined the swim team for me?" Maya asked.

"NO," Sofia said WAY too fast. "I joined for—athletic reasons. Personal growth. Character development."

"She said you'd be at the baseball game," the guy said. "So I came. To meet you."

Maya's brain stopped working.

"Oh," she said. "OH."

"I'm gonna go," Liam said, abandoning his slushie on the nearest bench. "You guys have fun being the most oblivious people on Earth."

"Wait," Maya called after him, "you knew?"

"EVERYONE knows," Liam yelled back. "Tyler's been asking about you since February."

Sofia smirked. "So. Not watching Tyler?"

"I hate you," Maya said, but she was smiling.

"Love you too," Sofia said. "And I'm quitting the swim team, obviously. Never again."

"Thank GOD."

"But you're coming to my meet next week."

"Why?"

"Because Tyler's swimming in it too."

Maya covered her face with her hands. "I hate everything."

But she was already checking her phone for the meet schedule, and Sofia was already laughing, and somewhere in the distance, the umpire yelled "PLAY BALL," and maybe—just maybe—being a spy wasn't the worst thing in the world. Especially when you finally found what you were looking for.