Green in the Teeth

The party was everything Maya feared it would be. Loud music, red solo cups, and Jake—the senior she'd been crushing on since September—standing by the inflatable pool looking like he walked straight out of a TikTok thirst trap.

"You're literally shaking," whispered Priya, her best friend since seventh grade. "Just talk to him."

"I can't," Maya hissed, clutching her iPhone like a lifeline. "I just ate that spinach artichoke dip and I feel like I'm gonna choke on my own anxiety."

"That's the whole point of parties. Choking on anxiety and maybe making out with someone cute."

Maya rolled her eyes but followed Priya toward the pool anyway. The October air was already freezing, but Jake had cannonballed into the water like an absolute himbo, and now a group of seniors were egging Maya to join them.

"Come on!" Jake yelled, grinning with those stupid perfect teeth. "The water's fine!"

Every instinct screamed at her to turn around, check her reflection, maybe fake a phone call from her mom. But then someone was shoving her forward, and she was tumbling into the pool fully clothed—iPhone, justice for the innocent, and her carefully curated aesthetic all destroyed in one disastrous splash.

When she surfaced, spluttering and humiliated, the entire party was laughing. But then Jake swam over, his hair plastered to his forehead, and said, "You have spinach in your teeth."

The laughter died.

"What?" Maya whispered.

"Yeah. It's actually kind of... I don't know. You seem like someone who actually eats food. Not like, exists on iced coffee and vibes." He shrugged. "It's cute."

Later, wrapped in a towel with her waterlogged iPhone tucked safely in rice (Priya's mom was somehow prepared for exactly this scenario), Maya would realize this was the moment everything changed. Not because she got the guy—she didn't, really. But because for the first time since middle school, she'd stopped performing long enough to be messy, embarrassing, and real.

The spinach, she texted Priya at midnight, was worth it.