Zombie Strikeout

Maya's lucky orange socks weren't working. Sixteen years old, and she was about to humiliate herself in front of everyone—including Ethan, the cute junior whose smile made her forget her own name.

"You got this, Maya," her best friend Ji-hoon whispered from the bleachers. "Just don't think about Ethan watching. Or how your hands are sweating. Or—"

"Thanks, super helpful."

This was it: baseball tryouts. The girls' team had been cut last season ("budget constraints," yeah right), so Maya was going co-ed. She adjusted her cap, gripped the bat, and locked eyes with the pitcher—some sophomore she'd beaten at Smash Bros last week.

Strike one. Her swing was late.

Whatever. She had two more strikes. She'd played softball since elementary school. This was just... faster. And with boys.

Strike two. The ball whizzed past so close she felt the breeze.

Okay, NOW she was nervous. Her phone buzzed in her pocket—probably her mom asking if she'd eaten anything. Actually, that reminded her of lunch earlier, when she'd nervously wolfed down that spinach wrap from the cafeteria. She'd checked her teeth in the bathroom mirror THREE TIMES.

But what if—

"Last pitch!" the coach yelled.

The ball came. Maya swung, everything narrowing down to this one moment, this one chance—

CRACK.

It wasn't perfect, but it was solid. The ball sailed into the outfield as she tore toward first base, her orange socks flashing, lungs burning, heart pounding like she'd just finished a zombie apocalypse marathon of her favorite show. Safe. By inches.

Ethan whistled from the dugout. "Nice swing!"

Maya straightened up, grinning so hard her face hurt. She'd made it. She was ACTUALLY going to be on the team.

Then Ji-hoon ran over, eyes wide. "Maya, you have a huge piece of spinach stuck in your teeth. Like, you've had it ALL AFTERNOON."

Maya froze.

But then Ethan jogged over, still smiling. "You know," he said, "that's actually pretty cool. Most people would've panicked and missed. You hit anyway. That's... really badass."

Maya's face flushed hot, but not from embarrassment anymore. "Yeah? Well, I've had worse things in my teeth during zombie runs."

Ethan laughed. "We should play sometime. I main the support class."

"Deal."

Her orange socks were definitely lucky.