Thunder Thighs and Second Place

Maya's legs burned like she'd been chugging hot sauce, but she kept running. The quarter-mile track stretched before her, an endless loop of rubber and regret. Cross-country practice, Coach Miller barking at her to pick up the pace, the meet next Friday that she was definitely going to choke at—again.

"You're doing it wrong," called out Tyler from the sidelines, leaning against the chain-link fence like he owned it. He'd graduated last year but still showed up to watch practice, probably because he had nothing better to do with his gap year. "You're overthinking it."

"Shut up, Tyler," Maya panted, not slowing down.

Then the sky cracked open.

Not literally—though with her luck, that would happen next. But the clouds decided now was the perfect time to unleash a sudden downpour, the kind that soaked through everything in three seconds flat. Rain plastered Maya's hair to her face, made the track slick, turned her running shoes into waterlogged bricks.

But she kept going.

Something about the chaos made it easier. Nobody could see her face in this downpour. Nobody could tell she was fighting back tears—frustration, fear, whatever. The other sprinters scattered toward the covered area, but Maya rounded the curve, water streaming down her cheeks like she was some kind of tragic movie character.

A flash of lightning split the sky, bright enough to turn everything white for a heartbeat.

"MAYA!" Coach Miller's voice carried over the rain. "Get inside!"

She stopped, hands on her knees, gulping air. Tyler was still there under the shelter, watching her with this weird expression she couldn't read from this distance. She jogged over, dripping wet, feeling like a drowned rat but weirdly proud.

"You're insane," he said, handing her a towel that smelled like his car's air freshener. Pine. aggressively pine.

"I'm not stopping before the meet," Maya said, wringing out her hair. "Even if I come in last."

"You won't." Tyler shrugged. "But hey, if you do, at least you'll look dramatic doing it in a storm."

Maya laughed, actually laughed. "Wow. That's terrible encouragement."

"I'm working on it." He grinned, and okay, maybe that was worth running through a downpour for.

The rain kept falling, but for once, Maya didn't mind the chaos.