Three Strikes and a Bull

Marcus's baseball cap was practically sweating through itself. Tryouts for the varsity team, and of course his crush, Jasmine, was sitting on the bleachers with her friends—probably judging his every move like it was a TikTok they could react to.

"You got this, Marcus!" yelled his best friend Ty from the dugout. Ty, who had already made varsity because life was unfair like that.

Marcus stepped up to the plate. First pitch: swing and a miss. The ball flew past him like it was laughing. Second pitch: same deal. He could feel Jasmine's eyes burning into his back. She'd posted that Instagram story yesterday that said "loves a guy who's good at sports" and now here he was, proving he was definitely not that guy.

Third pitch—CRACK. Finally. He dropped the bat and started running like his life depended on it. First base, second base, rounding third... and then he heard it.

A low, ominous snort.

Everyone froze. Even the pitcher stopped mid-windup. Standing at the edge of the field, just beyond the outfield fence, was the most massive bull Marcus had ever seen in his life. It had somehow escaped from the Henderson farm down the road.

"Is that..." Jasmine started, standing up.

"YEP, THAT'S DEFINITELY A BULL," someone screamed.

The coach blew his whistle like a maniac. "EVERYONE INSIDE NOW!"

But the bull had other plans. It charged the fence, splintering the wood like it was toothpicks. Suddenly Marcus's home run sprint felt like a warm-up. He was running again, but this time away from 1,500 pounds of angry beef.

"DUDE, JUST KEEP RUNNING!" Ty yelled from the safety of the dugout.

Marcus scrambled up and over the backstop, landing face-first in the dirt next to Jasmine. She was laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

"Your form," she gasped, "honestly, inspirational."

Marcus sat up, spitting out dirt. The bull was now happily munching on the outfield grass like it owned the place. The entire baseball team was piled into the dugout, someone's mom was calling animal control, and Marcus's varsity tryout had officially become the most legendary thing to happen at Jefferson High since the cafeteria incident of '23.

Jasmine extended a hand to help him up. "I'm Jasmine, by the way."

"Marcus." He took her hand, his face somehow even hotter than before. "And that was... definitely not how I saw today going."

"No bull?" she grinned.

He couldn't help it. Marcus laughed. "Yeah. No bull."

Later that night, his phone buzzed. A friend request from Jasmine. Her bio: " varsity softball enthusiast & connoisseur of guys who can run really fast when chased by farm animals "

Sometimes, Marcus thought, the best plays are the ones you never see coming.