Green in the Teeth

Maya's palms were sweating. Like, actually sweating — she kept wiping them on her tie-dye shorts, but it wasn't helping. Jordan was finally looking at her, actually looking at her, across the chlorine-scented pool deck.

"Hey," Jordan said, sliding onto the lounge chair beside her. "Having fun?"

"Yeah," Maya said. A bit too enthusiastically. "Super fun."

Her brain was already scrolling through the files labeled DO NOT SAY, but her mouth was operating on its own frequency. This is what happened when you'd spent six months staring at someone across honors English and suddenly they're three feet away wearing a swim shirt and smelling like coconut sunscreen.

"Your mom's party is sick," Jordan added.

"Thanks!" Wait. That wasn't her party. Her mom was currently at a yoga retreat. This was her cousin's graduation party. "I mean — yeah, thanks."

Jordan laughed. Not a mean laugh. The good kind.

"I'm gonna hit the food table. You want anything?"

"No, I'm good." Maya had already eaten three times. Nibbling was her go-to move when she didn't know where to put her hands.

"Cool." Jordan stood up. "Be right back."

Maya watched them walk away, then immediately pulled out her phone to text Kai: SOS. JORDAN IS TALKING TO ME AND I'M GOING TO SAY SOMETHING WEIRD.

Kai's response came instantly: Did you already?

No. BUT IT'S INEVITABLE.

She caught her reflection in her phone screen and froze. There. Wedged between her front teeth like it was paying rent. A giant piece of spinach from the spinach artichoke dip she'd decimated twenty minutes ago.

Maya had never moved faster in her life. She bolted toward the bathroom, checking her teeth in the mirror, scrubbing with her finger until her gums practically bled. When she came back out, Jordan was standing by the pool with a plate of food.

They were smiling.

They had spinach in their teeth too.

Maya's shoulders dropped three inches. Oh. Oh no. Should she tell them? That was a thing people did, right? The cool thing? The thing that said I'm normal and I notice stuff and I care about your social survival?

She walked over. Her palms were sweating again, but differently this time.

"Hey," she said. "You have a little —" she gestured at her own teeth.

Jordan's eyes went wide. "For real?"

"Yeah. But like, I just had the same situation, so —"

"You're a lifesaver." Jordan grinned. "Seriously."

"No problem." Maya shrugged, trying to look casual instead of like her heart was doing cartwheels. "Wanna get in the water?"

"Absolutely."

They cannonballed together, and Maya's palms stopped sweating long enough for her to realize this might actually be the beginning of something.