Green in the Teeth

The pool party was supposed to be Maya's chance to finally talk to him—Jake, the varsity swimmer with the annoyingly perfect smile who'd been in her bio class since September. Instead, she was currently hiding behind a patio chair, analyzing her life choices.

"You're being dramatic," Chloe whispered, adjusting her bikini top. "Just go swimming. Everyone's already in the pool."

Maya shook her head violently. "Cannot. Will not. There is literal spinach in my teeth from the veggie wraps and I look like a swamp creature."

Chloe rolled her eyes so hard it practically hurt. "Girl, it's not that deep. Also, Mr. Henderson's dog just knocked over the chip bowl, so nobody's looking at you anyway."

Sure enough, the Hendersons' golden retriever—a chaos demon named Buddy—was currently living his best life, skidding across the patio with potato chips scattered like confetti. Someone screamed. Someone else laughed. And then, like the universe was personally testing Maya's will to live, actual lightning cracked across the sky, followed immediately by thunder that shook the ground.

"Everyone out of the pool!" Mr. Henderson's voice boomed over the suddenly tense atmosphere.

Great. Now she was stranded at a party, trapped indoors with Jake, while spinach slowly destroyed her social life. This was fine. Everything was fine.

They all squeezed into the basement, someone's playlist still going, people awkwardly huddled together on couches and the floor. Maya ended up squished between Chloe and—because fate had a weird sense of humor—Jake himself.

"Hey," he said, smiling that perfect smile. "You're Maya, right? From bio?"

She nodded, probably too aggressively. "That's me. Bio Maya. I'm good at bio. Not much else, but definitely bio."

What was wrong with her?

Jake laughed, and it was genuinely nice. "You're funny. I've been wanting to talk to you all year, but you always seem so focused."

"Focused?" Maya choked out. "I've been having an existential crisis since September, but thanks for noticing."

"You know what I mean," he said, and then his expression changed. "Hey, can I tell you something?"

"Sure?"

"You have a little—" he gestured to his own teeth, "right there. But honestly, it's kinda endearing. Like, you're the only person here who'd casually eat spinach at a pool party."

Maya's face was so hot she could spontaneously combust. "Endearing. That's the word I was going for."

"I mean it," Jake said, and something about his voice was different now. More serious. "Everyone here is trying so hard to be cool. You're just... yourself. That's rare."

Above them, the storm raged on, lightning still flashing through the basement windows. The dog was somewhere barking at thunder. Someone's mom was calling about pickup times. And Maya was sitting next to the boy she'd been crushing on for nine months, realizing that maybe, just maybe, being the weird spinach girl wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"I'm still never living this down," she muttered.

"Good," Jake said, grinning. "Because I was hoping you'd let me sit with you at lunch on Monday. Bio Maya."

The storm outside was nothing compared to the electricity in that basement. And for the first time all year, Maya didn't want to hide behind a patio chair.