Green Between My Teeth

The rain pounded against the cafeteria windows, matching the rhythm of my thumping heart. I'd been running from Caleb all week, ever since I'd accidentally DM'd him that screenshot of his Instagram story where he looked genuinely good for once. Not my finest moment.

"You're literally spiraling," Jade said, stabbing at her salad. "Just talk to him already."

Easy for her to say. Jade wasn't the one whose hair had turned a horrifying shade of orange after a boxed dye disaster yesterday. Now I was rocking a beanie indoors like I was secretly filming a SoundCloud rapper tutorial.

Caleb walked past our table, water bottle in hand, droplets clinging to his dark curls like he'd just come from swim practice. Our eyes met for approximately 0.3 seconds before I practically folded myself into my lunch tray.

I'd spent all summer running laps at the park, trying to transform myself into someone Caleb might actually notice. Someone confident. Someone whose hair didn't look like a traffic cone exploded on it.

"Okay, listen," Jade said, suddenly way too intense. "He's coming back over. You need to make a move. Eat something normal-looking so you seem chill."

In my panic, I grabbed a handful of spinach from Jade's salad and shoved it in my mouth.

"Hey, Maya," Caleb said, stopping at our table. His voice was deeper in person. "You doing okay? You seem tense."

"Mmph hmm," I said, giving him a thumbs-up.

"Cool." He smiled, and I noticed he had a tiny scar above his left eyebrow. "I saw you at the park this summer. You've gotten fast."

I froze. He'd NOTICED?

"Thanks," I managed, still chewing what felt like an entire salad.

"Yeah, maybe we could run together sometime?" He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly looking nervous too. "If you want."

"Yeah!" I said, probably too loud. "I mean—yeah, that'd be cool."

"Awesome." He grinned. "See you at practice then."

As soon as he walked away, I pulled out my phone to check my reflection.

Half my teeth were coated in green.

"Mayaaaa," Jade whispered.

I died inside. But then I realized—Caleb had still asked me to run with him. Even with the orange hair. Even with the spinach smile.

Maybe I didn't need to transform into someone else after all.