Green Between the Teeth

The **pool** water rippled around my waist as I stood there, braces gleaming like a metallic warning sign. Across the deck, Jordan laughed at something Tyler said, tossing her wet hair like she was in a shampoo commercial. I'd been crushing on her since seventh period English, and my grand plan to finally talk to her tonight was going about as well as my attempts to grow facial hair.

Then disaster struck in the form of a **cat**.

Mrs. Chen's tabby had been stalking the party from the neighbor's fence all evening, clearly judging our attempts to look cool. Now it chose that exact moment to pounce on a fallen chip, startling me so badly I inhaled half my veggie burger. I started choking, hacking like I'd swallowed a bug, and when I finally caught my breath, I did what any self-respecting fifteen-year-old would do: I played it off like nothing happened.

Big mistake.

Ten minutes later, I was working up the courage to ask Jordan if she wanted to play **baseball** with us this weekend—she'd mentioned loving the sport during class yesterday—when I caught my reflection in the sliding glass door. Stuck between my front brackets like some kind of festive dental confetti: a massive, unmistakable piece of **spinach**.

"DUDE," whispered Marcus, eyes wide. "Your teeth."

"How long?" I hissed back.

"Since the veggie burgers, bro. Since. The. Burgers."

My face burned so hot I thought I might actually boil the pool water. Every interaction I'd had tonight replayed in my mind—talking to Tyler about the summer reading list, waving at Jordan from across the deck, smiling like an idiot while she was literally five feet away.

But then Jordan was there, dripping wet and looking at me with those eyes that made my brain short-circuit. "Hey!" she said, grinning. "You play baseball? I've been looking for people to hit the batting cages with."

She didn't mention the spinach. Either she hadn't noticed, or she was being cool about it.

"Yeah!" I said, then quickly covered my mouth with my hand. "I mean, yeah, I'd love to."

"Awesome." She pulled a piece of spinach from her own teeth—she'd just eaten too—and laughed. "These burgers are dangerous, right?"

I laughed with her, suddenly realizing that maybe the most humiliating moments are just the ones we haven't turned into stories yet.