Green in the Teeth

The pool party at Jessica's house was supposed to be my moment. You know that feeling when you've been crushing on someone for months and finally there's a chance to actually talk to them? That was me with Tyler. I'd spent forty minutes on my hair, another twenty convincing myself that this floral swimsuit wasn't trying too hard.

"You good?" Maya asked, handing me a paper plate. I'd been friends with Maya since seventh grade, back when we both had braces and couldn't coordinate outfits to save our lives.

"I'm chilling," I lied, reaching for what I thought was a celery stick. My bad. It was raw spinach from the veggie wrap platter. Whatever. I ate it anyway.

Tyler was by the pool, laughing at something Jessica's older brother said. He looked effortlessly good in swim trunks, while I was currently experiencing internal monologue overload at a level that should be illegal.

I made my approach. This was it. The universe aligned. I started walking over, and that's when Jessica's dog, a golden retriever named Baxter who had literally zero chill, decided I looked like a human who needed to be jumped on.

Baxter tackled me full-force. I stumbled backward, tripped over someone's bag, and face-planted into the grass. The group went silent. Tyler was looking right at me.

"You good?" he asked, suppressing a smile.

"I'm living the dream," I said, trying to play it off. But then I caught Maya's expression. She was making frantic hand gestures near her own teeth. Oh no.

I ran to the bathroom mirror. There it was—a perfect piece of spinach wedged between my front teeth like I was sponsored by oral hygiene failures. I'd been walking around with it, talking to people, interacting like a normal human being while broadcasting "I eat salad incorrectly" to the world.

I hid in the bathroom for exactly three minutes before Maya knocked. "Tyler thinks it's hilarious that you took out that spinach with such confidence. He said, and I quote, 'She's weirdly cool about it.'"

I stared at my reflection. Maybe being perfect wasn't the vibe anymore. Maybe I could just be the girl who ate spinach, got attacked by a dog, and still managed to laugh about it.

"We're running back out there," I told Maya. "If I'm gonna be memorable, might as well commit."