Green Between the Teeth

Maya stared at her iphone screen, the selfie from Saturday's pool party mocking her. Right there, huge and obvious: a forest of spinach wedged between her front teeth. How had Jake looked at her—actually talked to her for twenty minutes—while she looked like a grinning rabbit?

"You're obsessing again," said Chloe, dropping onto the locker room bench beside her. "He didn't notice. Or if he did, he didn't care."

"That's literally the worst part," Maya groaned, shoving the phone into her backpack. "He's too nice to say anything, which means he was definitely staring at my salad mouth the whole time and just being polite."

Swimming class had been Maya's personal torture chamber since seventh grade. The humidity, the chlorine stinging her eyes, the way her hair expanded to three times its normal volume—bad enough. But now? Now she had to navigate Jake Waters, who'd suddenly become un-boring over the summer, while also managing her lifelong talent for public humiliation.

The locker room smelled like coconut shampoo and adolescence. Maya tied her swimsuit strings with shaking fingers.

"You know what you need?" Chloe pulled a covered container from her bag. "A system." She lifted the lid to reveal the biggest, darkest, leafiest salad Maya had ever seen. "Spinach. The superfood of champions. Before you talk to him, you eat some. That way, if you get spinach in your teeth, it's just part of the aesthetic. It's not embarrassing—it's a lifestyle."

Maya stared at her. Then she started laughing. She couldn't help it. The absurdity of it all—the pool parties, the panic over vegetables, the way her entire emotional state could be derailed by a photo on a screen—hit her at once.

"You're ridiculous," she said, grabbing a leaf. "But yeah. Okay. A system."

Jake was already at the pool when Maya walked out, wet hair plastered to her neck, spinach strategically consumed. He waved, and she felt something unclench in her chest. Maybe it was the way he smiled with his whole face. Maybe it was the knowledge that at worst, she'd have a consistent green theme going on.

Maybe it was just realizing she didn't have to be perfect to be worth talking to.

"Hey," he said, swimming over to the edge. "I was hoping I'd catch you before practice started."

Maya's stomach did something interesting and terrifying. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." He rested his arms on the pool deck, water dripping from his eyelashes. "I was going to text you, but I figured this was better. You doing anything Friday?"

Behind her, Maya heard Chloe's tiny, victorious gasp. She looked at Jake—really looked at him—and decided some things were worth a little spinach. Worth the risk. Worth being seen, imperfections and all.

"Friday works," she said. "But if I have anything in my teeth later, you have to tell me. Friend rule."

Jake laughed. "Deal."