Zombie Brain, Fox Heart

My brain was definitely operating on zombie mode—three hours of sleep will do that to you. I'd stayed up until 3 AM grinding ranked matches, and now here I was, about to make a complete fool of myself in front of half the school.

"You good, bro?" Marcus asked, probably noticing I was about to faceplant onto the concrete.

"Yeah. Just tired." I adjusted my worn-out baseball hat, hoping it covered the dark circles under my eyes. The brim was curved perfectly—my security blanket whenever I felt awkward, which was basically always.

Today was the first padel tournament of the semester, and somehow I'd gotten paired with Chloe, the girl I'd been lowkey crushing on since October. She was leaning against the fence, laughing at something her friends said. My stomach did that thing where it forgets how to stomach.

The problem was, I wasn't exactly bull material. You know the type—confident, loud, walks through life like they own everything. I was more of a hide-in-the-back-of-the-class-and-hope-nobody-notices-me kind of guy.

"Game point!" Chloe called out, spinning her racket like she was born with one in her hand.

I watched her move across the court, graceful and effortless. fox energy radiating from her—sleek, clever, way out of my league. She caught me staring and winked, and I nearly tripped over my own feet.

Somehow, through a combination of pure adrenaline and zombie-induced delirium, my body actually did what it was supposed to. We won. Not gonna lie—I may have let out a very uncool yelp when the final point landed.

"We crushed it," Chloe said, bumping my shoulder. "You're actually really good when you're not overthinking everything."

Maybe that was it. Maybe I spent so much time worrying about being the bull, being the fox, being whatever everyone expected, that I forgot how to just be. And maybe—just maybe—hat hair and zombie brain and all the stuff that made me feel awkward wasn't the problem.

"Same time next week?" I asked, trying to sound casual and probably failing.

"Definitely." She smiled. "Don't stay up so late gaming next time, though. You looked dead on your feet."

I laughed, pulling my hat down higher. I'd still overthink everything. I'd still want to be the bull instead of just being me. But at least for today, I was okay with that.