Zombies of the Padel Court

Leo dragged himself across the pool deck like a literal zombie, his eyes burning from three straight nights of Fortnite until 3 AM. Summer after sophomore year was supposed to be legendary, but so far it was just exhausting.

"Bro, you look dead," called Marcus, already shirtless and glistening near the deep end. "Save some energy for the padel tournament later."

Leo groaned. The club's padel championship was today—his dad had signed him up without asking, naturally. Now he had to partner with Skylar, the girl he'd been lowkey crushing on since seventh period English ended, while simultaneously trying not to embarrass himself in front of the entire summer social pyramid.

The pool area was basically a living hierarchy map: the popular crew occupied the prime loungers like Egyptian pharaohs, while everyone else scattered around the edges like peasants. Leo usually avoided the whole scene, but today Skylar waved from the edge of the water.

"Hey! You ready to get crushed?" she called, teasing. Her dark hair was wet, and Leo's stomach did that stupid flippy thing.

"In your dreams," he shot back, trying to sound confident. "I've been practicing my drop shots all week."

"Practicing in your basement doesn't count, genius."

She laughed, and for a second Leo forgot he was running on zero sleep and existential dread about his serve game.

The padel match was somehow less disastrous than expected. They lost every set obviously—Marcus and his partner dominated like they'd been born holding racquets. But Skylar kept making him laugh every time he missed an easy shot, and afterward she suggested grabbing snow cones from the club's overpriced stand.

"You know," she said, licking her blue raspberry, "you're actually not terrible. Your backhand's kinda fire when you're not zoning out."

"I was emotionally compromised," Leo protested. "The entire varsity team was watching our every move like we were zoo animals."

"Whatever." She bumped his shoulder. "Next week, same time? I'll destroy you then too."

Leo grinned, suddenly wide awake. Maybe summer wouldn't be so zombie-fied after all.