Green in the Teeth

Marcus had three things on his freshman survival checklist: avoid the bull in homeroom (Brandon, 6'2" and convinced he ran the school), keep his iPhone charged at all times (essential for survival), and never — under any circumstances — eat the cafeteria's spinach. The first day of eighth grade, he'd managed to fail all three.

The spinach incident was a disaster. Trying to impress Chloe, who'd sat across from him with her friends, Marcus had taken a confident bite of the mysterious green substance on his tray. Big mistake. The spinach had the consistency of wet paper and tasted like sadness.

Worse, Brandon had chosen that exact moment to stroll by, spotting the green massacre happening in Marcus's mouth.

'Yo, Spinach King,' Brandon had announced, loud enough for half the cafeteria to hear. 'You got a little something... everywhere.'

Marcus's iPhone buzzed in his pocket — probably his friends texting about how embarrassed he looked. He felt his face burning hotter than the school's lukewarm pizza.

But then Chloe started laughing. Not mean laughing — actually laughing, like it was genuinely funny.

'At least he's brave enough to try it,' she said, grinning at Marcus. 'I've been here three years and I'm still convinced the spinach is radioactive.'

Brandon looked confused. Whatever. He moved on to find easier targets.

Marcus met Chloe's eyes and shrugged. 'Worth it,' he said, and for some reason, they both cracked up. His iPhone buzzed again — his friends wanting to know what just happened.

That night, Marcus posted a photo on his Instagram story: a selfie captioned 'Spinach survivor 2024' with a little green leaf emoji. Chloe replied with fire emojis. Brandon didn't matter anymore.

Sometimes the most embarrassing moments become the best stories. And Marcus learned that eighth grade might be survivable after all — spinach mishaps and all.