Green in the Teeth

Maya's palms were sweating so much she could practically water plants with them. Standing at the edge of the Carter's backyard pool, she watched the party swirl around her like a tornado she couldn't escape. Someone had spiked the punch, obviously. Jason Chen—the Jason Chen—was cannonballing into the deep end while everyone cheered.

"Hey, you coming in?"

She jumped. It was Jason, dripping wet, smiling right at her. His hair was plastered to his forehead in that annoyingly perfect way. Maya's brain short-circuited like lightning had struck her frontal lobe.

"Maybe," she managed, then immediately remembered why she'd been hiding by the snack table all night. The spinach dip. The brilliant, beautiful spinach dip she'd inhaled like a vacuum five minutes ago because stress-eating was her personality now.

"Cool," Jason said. "You've got a little—" He gestured to his own teeth.

Maya's soul left her body.

She rushed to the bathroom, locked herself in a stranger's toilet, and stared into the mirror. Sure enough. A forest of green shame decorated her front teeth. She scrubbed until her gums hurt, texted Lily a series of skull emojis, and considered just living in this bathroom forever. It was nice. The toilet had excellent Wi-Fi.

"You alive in there?" Lily's voice came through the door.

"No. I've died. Please scatter my ashes at Hot Topic."

The door creaked open anyway. Lily leaned against the frame, looking ridiculously unbothered. "So, spinach incident?"

"I'm never leaving this house," Maya said. "I'm legally changing my name to Toilet Person."

"Jason asked about you again," Lily said casually.

Maya looked up.

"He said, and I quote, 'That girl with the spinach in her teeth was kinda cool about it.' Like, he literally thinks you played it off?" Lily shook her head. "Men are baffling creatures."

A crack of thunder shook the house. Real lightning flashed through the bathroom window, illuminating Maya's spinach-free reflection.

"Storm's here," Lily said. "Everyone's heading inside. You coming out?"

Maya looked at herself in the mirror one more time. Her palms were still sweaty, her social battery was at 1%, and she'd definitely be replaying this moment at 3 AM for the rest of her life.

But also: Jason Chen thought she was kinda cool.

"Yeah," she said, reaching for the door. "Yeah, I'm coming."