Green Between the Teeth

Maya's stomach did gymnastics as she stood by the McKennas' pool, clutching her towel like a security blanket. The popular kids were already in the water, their perfect hair slicked back like they'd stepped out of a TikTok filter. Meanwhile, Maya had spent twenty minutes convincing herself that her curls looked "effortless" instead of "I fought a lawnmower and lost."

"You coming in or what?" Jordan called from the deep end. He of the golden skin and the smile that made girls forget their own names. The same Jordan she'd been crushing on since seventh period English, when he'd dropped his pen and their fingers brushed.

"Yeah, just... warming up," Maya lied, fully aware that her face was approximately the same shade as her cherry-print bikini.

The real problem wasn't the swimming. It was the spinach. The stupid, egregious spinach from her lunch that had taken up residence between her front teeth earlier that afternoon, remaining undetected through three classes and exactly zero mirror checks. Sasha, her lab partner since freshman year, had finally pulled her aside after chem with a grimace and said, "Maya, I love you, but you look like you tried to photosynthesize."

Now she stood at pool's edge, hyper-aware of her mouth, her hair, her body — basically her entire existence — while the most socially significant event of the summer unfolded around her. The sphinx moth that had been hovering near the porch light seemed to be mocking her with its chaotic fluttering.

"Whatever," she muttered to herself, and jumped.

The shock of cold water was better than overthinking. Better than standing on the sidelines, watching everyone else live. She surfaced to find Jordan treading water nearby, droplets clinging to his eyelashes like tiny prisms.

"About time," he said, grinning. Then his expression softened. "Hey, you have a little..." He gestured to his own teeth.

Maya's heart sank. She'd missed a spot. Again.

"Don't worry," Jordan added quickly. "Everyone's got something. Last week, I walked around all day with my shirt inside out. At a swim meet."

She laughed, and something inside her loosened. The water felt different now — not something to perform in, but something to exist in. She dove under, letting the silence wrap around her, and when she came up, Jordan was still there, waiting.

"Race you to the other side," he challenged.

"You're on."

And just like that, Maya stopped thinking about her hair, her teeth, about whether she was doing this whole being-a-person thing correctly. She just started swimming.