Rain poured down as Maya walked across the campus quad on her first day at Riverside College.
A group of students huddled under the dining hall awning—Chelsea, Brad, and their friends. The popular crowd.
“Look at the new girl,” Chelsea said loud enough for Maya to hear.
Maya kept walking, head down.
Brad stepped forward. “Hey! New girl! You lost?”
Maya stopped. “No, I’m fine—”
“You sure?”
Maya tried to walk past. Brad blocked her path.
Chelsea walked up behind Maya and shoved her hard.
Maya stumbled, slipped on wet grass, and fell face-first into a massive mud puddle.
Cold, thick mud soaked through her clothes. Rain poured down.
The group erupted in laughter.
“She’s completely covered!”
Chelsea pulled out her phone. “This is going straight to Instagram!”
Maya stood, mud dripping from her hair and face. She didn’t say a word. Just picked up her backpack and walked away.
Behind her, the group laughed and high-fived.
What they didn’t know was that Maya had been the number one ranked junior tennis player in her city for three years.
The next day, Maya walked into the dining hall during lunch carrying a large sports bag.
Chelsea saw her first. “Oh look, it’s mud girl!”
The table laughed.
Maya walked directly toward them, set the bag down, and unzipped it.
Inside: two dozen tennis balls and her competition racket.
Brad’s smile faded. “What are you—”
Maya grabbed a ball, tossed it up, and served it directly at Brad’s chest.
THWACK!
The ball hit him so hard he fell backward off his chair, spaghetti flipping onto his lap.
“What the hell?!” Chelsea screamed.
Maya was already loading the next ball.
THWACK! It hit Chelsea’s shoulder. She stumbled, iced coffee exploding across her shirt.
“STOP HER!”
But Maya was too fast.
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
Tennis balls flew with precision. Students ducked—one knocked a soup tray into the air.
Someone tried to run. Maya’s ball caught him in the back, sending him sprawling into a table.
The cafeteria descended into chaos.
Maya moved like a machine—toss, swing, hit.
Brad tried to charge her. Maya’s ball caught him in the stomach. He crashed into a table, plates of food covering him.
Chelsea slipped in spilled juice and went down hard, landing in soup and soda.
Within sixty seconds, the entire group was on the floor, covered in food and drinks.
Maya stood in the center, racket in hand, not even breathing hard.
The cafeteria was silent.
Then someone started clapping.
Within seconds, everyone was applauding and cheering.
The dining hall manager rushed over. “What is going on?!”
Maya calmly packed her racket. “They pushed me into mud yesterday. I was returning the favor.”
“She attacked us!” Chelsea shrieked.
“Actually,” a student spoke up, “they pushed her first. We all saw it. They posted it on Instagram.”
The manager looked at Chelsea’s group sprawled on the floor, then at Maya.
“All of you,” he pointed at Chelsea’s group, “principal’s office. Now.”
“What about her?!” Brad pointed at Maya.
“She defended herself. With tennis balls. No one’s seriously hurt. But you assaulted another student and documented it. That’s expulsion territory.”
Maya walked out to thunderous applause.
Chelsea and Brad were suspended. Their bullying posts used as evidence.
And Maya became a legend.
The tennis coach recruited her immediately. Six months later, she led Riverside College to the state championship.
The students who’d pushed her into mud learned an important lesson:
Never underestimate the quiet new girl.
Especially if she’s carrying a tennis racket.
