The year I was at my heaviest, I sat on the school's biggest bad boy and made him cry. The harder he cried, the more amped I got. I even straddled him and wiggled a few times. It felt... lumpy. From that day on, he’d sprint in the other direction the second he saw me. Three years later, at a class reunion, someone joked, "Maya's so skinny now, she can't make Zane Zhou cry just by sitting on him anymore." He leaned forward, slowly crossing his legs. My entire body went hot, and I blushed all the way to my roots. 1 I'd almost completely forgotten what Zane Zhou looked like. For all of high school, he ran from me. He ran so fast that my memory of his face was just a blur. Freshman year, my new deskmate warned me. "That's Zane Zhou. His grandfather basically owns this city. He's bad news. If you see him, you walk the other way." My mom had told me the same thing. You're in the city now, Maya. Be humble. Don't make trouble. I listened. I really did. So when I saw him on the practice field one day, cornered, one against five, I kept my head down. The five guys were seniors, and they were circling him. He saw me and actually yelled, "Maya!" I squinted, took a few steps closer, and realized who it was. I turned around and walked the long way. A second later, I heard a yelp of pain. When I got back to homeroom, I was worried he was actually hurt. So I told everyone. Then I told our homeroom teacher. When Mr. Henderson dragged the entire class out to the field, we found him. His shirt was ripped, one side of his face was swollen, and he had a black eye. It was the first time I'd ever seen him up close. All the girls in my class were obsessed with him, saying he was tall and handsome, with "deep-set, model-like eyes." Right now, he looked like the homeless guy who panhandled outside the 7-Eleven. I couldn't help it. I snorted. Our eyes met. He struggled to his feet, winced, and pointed at me. "You. Just you wait." Mr. Henderson kicked him in the butt, which made him howl. The next evening, I was walking out of the cafeteria when he and his crew blocked my path. I clutched the chicken leg I was holding behind my back and swallowed hard. I'd only taken one bite. It would get cold. I forgot my mom's warning. I forgot my friend's warning. I was just hangry. "What do you want?" I snapped. "You're mad I didn't help? You were outnumbered five to one! If I jumped in and we won, wouldn't that be even more embarrassing for you?" His friends shuffled, looking down. He just stuck his chin out. "You're as big as a house, Maya. You shouldn't be eating a chicken leg." ...That's it? How juvenile. I tried to push past him. He grabbed my arm. I yanked it back, and my chicken leg—my beautiful, precious chicken leg—flew out of my hand and landed in the dirt. It was fine. I could just rinse it off. Pick the gravel out. He lifted his foot and stomped on it. Then he ground it into the asphalt, twisting his heel. My eyes slowly lifted from the greasy smear on the ground to his face. Rage, like a volcano, erupted inside me. I screamed and tackled him. One of his arms was already in a cast from the fight yesterday. His other arm was useless against my sheer mass. I sat right on his stomach. "You! Monster! You killed my chicken! That was my one chicken leg for the whole year! Waaaaah!" Zane's face went from pale to bright red. And then, two lines of tears streamed from the corners of his eyes. A crowd started to gather. Someone yelled, "Go get a teacher!" At that, his friends scattered. The harder he cried, the more amped I got. I straddled him, grinding my hips down. Just like you did to my chicken. I didn't know why, but it felt... lumpy. Someone finally managed to pull me off. I was depressed about that chicken leg for a solid month. The only thing that snapped me out of it was getting first place in the district on my midterms. 2 After that, Zane Zhou avoided me like I was the plague. He was a legacy admission. His mom was on the school board. I heard his middle school grades weren't good enough for the worst high school in the city, let alone our magnet school. As a kid who'd been on the free-lunch program my entire life, I hated guys like him. Especially since he'd murdered my chicken. But I was also terrified of him. I was scared he'd tell his mom and get my scholarship revoked. Or just get me expelled. For an entire semester, I waited for the principal to call me to his office. I had nightmares about it. A rabid dog would chase me, pin me down, and just as it was about to bite, its face would morph into Zane's. Then, at the final assembly, the principal said he had an announcement. The gym was hot and stuffy, but my back was cold with sweat. I was already calculating how to tell my mom I'd have to go work in the mines with her. The principal called my name. "Maya Chen. For the school's new academic excellence scholarship. First place, eight thousand dollars." It wasn't a scholarship. It was a lifeline. It meant I had living expenses. It meant my mom could quit that job at the mine before her lungs gave out. The principal also gave a shout-out to Zane Zhou. His grades had gone from dead last to the middle of the pack. My friend, Chloe, whispered that he had a crush on Sarah Jenkins, the class "it girl." Sarah was always top ten and had publicly said she'd never date a guy with bad grades. Zane's desk was always piled with gifts from girls. He'd sweep them all into the trash. Except for Sarah's. Hers, he put in his backpack. He stopped making trouble. When we passed in the hall, he didn't call me "Fatty Maya." Actually, he just... didn't look at me at all. By senior year, he was the "unattainable ice-prince" of the school, turning down girls left and right, supposedly waiting for Sarah. The only other time we interacted was at graduation. Mr. Henderson, our old homeroom teacher, pulled me aside. "Zane's mom wanted me to pass on a message. She said, 'Thank that pretty, chubby girl in your class for me. She sat on my son and knocked some sense into him.'" I scratched my head. His mom was weird. When I turned to leave, Zane was standing in the office doorway. Our eyes met. He looked away. I looked down. We brushed shoulders as we passed. And that was it. 3 I wasn't going to come to the reunion. I was about to start my senior year of college. I was juggling two part-time jobs and trying to lock down an internship. I was exhausted. Then Chloe called. "You have to come, Maya. This is networking. Plus, Zane Zhou is the one organizing it. Remember? The guy you sat on?" I groaned. "Chloe, please don't bring that up. Fine. I'll go." I hid in the corner of my tiny apartment, my face burning. I was older now. I finally understood why it had felt... lumpy. I showed up to the reunion deliberately trying to look like I didn't care. No makeup, a faded old hoodie, and my favorite tote bag with a supermarket logo on it. I was, by far, the most underdressed person there. In contrast, Zane Zhou was the center of the room. He was at least 6'2", broad-shouldered, and wearing a white button-down with the top two buttons undone. It made me think of that chicken leg. I swallowed. The second I walked in, Chloe dragged me over. "Zane! Look who it is! Maya Chen!" A few people chuckled. "Maya's so skinny now, she can't make Zane cry just by sitting on him anymore." Zane's expression went stiff. He leaned forward, slowly crossing his legs. My whole body went hot, and I started fanning myself. "Wow, it's warm in here. I'm just gonna get some air." "Warm? Just take your hoodie off," Chloe said, and yanked it straight over my head. The hoodie was a size XXL from my heavier days. It came off in one easy pull, revealing the thin tank top I had on underneath. I was standing right in front of him. His gaze dropped. He got an unobstructed view right down my top. I scrambled to pull the hoodie back on, my face on fire. Chloe was oblivious. "Damn, girl! You lost the weight, but you kept all the good parts! You could still make a guy cry sitting on him now." I pulled my hoodie tight, but I snuck a glance at Zane. His ears were bright red. 4 Zane finally spoke, and we all realized this wasn't just a party. "My tech company just opened its headquarters here," he said. "We're hiring. The pay is good, benefits are included. If you're interested, send me your resume." Chloe nudged me, showing me her phone. She'd already pulled up his company's website. "Maya, this is literally your major." I froze. I never wanted to have anything to do with Zane Zhou again. I hadn't told anyone, but I'd seen him at The Stonewall, the local gay bar, when I was waitressing a private event. I'm not judgmental, but... it was weird. But I needed to move back home. My mom, trying to "help" with tuition, had secretly gone back to working in the mines. She had early-stage lung disease. I needed to be here, to take care of her. My hometown was an old industrial city. New tech companies were rare, and the ones that were here were just tiny, dead-end satellite offices. The starting salary on Zane's website made my heart pound. That night, I tossed and turned. I had that dream again. A big, friendly dog runs at me, tackles me, and starts licking my face. Then it looks up, and it has Zane's face. I woke up in a cold sweat. My phone rang. An unknown number. "Ms. Chen? This is ZenTek. We'd like to invite you for an interview next week." It was Zane's company. I hadn't even applied. My mom's doctor texted me. Her surgery was scheduled for next week. "I'll be there," I said into the phone. I had to go home anyway. Might as well. The day of the interview, Zane wasn't there. The tech director and I hit it off. They didn't even want me to intern; they offered me a full-time position. The starting salary was exactly what they'd advertised, no "probationary" cut. I knew I was good. I didn't know I was this good. It would have been rude to say no. But my mom's surgery got rescheduled, so I had to start a day late. The next morning, I ran into Zane in the elevator. "Good morning, Mr. Zhou," I said respectfully. He swallowed. His Adam's apple bobbed. He didn't say anything. The elevator dinged. The second the doors opened a crack, I stuck my foot out. Through the crack, I saw a pair of long, gorgeous legs. The doors opened. It was Sarah Jenkins. She ignored me and launched herself into Zane's arms. "Zane! I thought you were in meetings all day!" "Something came up," he said. I stepped out of the elevator and turned back. Zane was standing stiffly, his hands hovering in the air, while Sarah hung off his neck, smiling.
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