Green in the Teeth, Gold in the Heart

The cafeteria hummed with that particular frequency that only exists when everyone is pretending not to care about anything. I approached Maya's table like I was defusing a bomb. Not that I'd ever defused a bomb, but I imagined it felt exactly like this: sweaty palms, racing heart, and the distinct sensation that everyone was watching.

'You got this,' Leo whispered. 'Just be cool.'

Cool. Right. I'd been mentally rehearsing what to say to Maya since September. My notes app was basically a diary of failed opening lines. 'Hey, weather's crazy' (deleted). 'Nice shirt' (too basic). 'I noticed you like that band—' (too creepy).

The worst part? I was doing all this while literally hiding behind a potted plant in the hallway during third period, spying on her locker combination like a total weirdo. Not my proudest moment.

But today was different. Today I was actually going to sit with her.

I sat down. Maya looked up from her phone. Her eyes were golden-brown and weirdly intense and I forgot every word I'd ever learned.

Then I smiled.

Then I saw her expression flicker. Confusion? Amusement? Concern?

'I, uh,' I said, because conversation was apparently optional at this point.

Then her friend Chloe leaned in and whispered something. Maya's eyebrows went up.

I didn't find out until later that I'd had a massive piece of spinach in my braces since lunch. A whole leaf. Just chilling. Making itself at home.

'I have to bear witness to whatever is happening right now,' Leo said from two tables away, because he was the worst.

The thing about high school is that humiliation is basically a currency. The more you have, the more interesting you become. So I just… leaned into it. 'So,' I said, 'on a scale of one to ten, how bad is it?'

Maya laughed. It was this real, unexpected sound that made something in my chest do a flip. 'Seven. Maybe eight if you turn your head like that.'

Her cat—the emotional support animal that followed her everywhere, don't get me started—jumped onto the bench and started kneading my thigh. Everyone knows cats can sense desperation. This one had decided to adopt mine.

'I think Mittens likes you,' Maya said.

'Mittens?'

'Named after the mittens I lost in second grade. It's a long story.'

I watched her fiddle with the zipper on her backpack, noticed the collection of pins: a cat, a lightning bolt, a tiny bear with sunglasses. Weirdest combination ever. Kind of perfect.

'My dog would be terrified of you,' she continued. 'Buster barks at his own shadow. It's embarrassing, honestly. Like, who appointed you guardian of the backyard, dude?'

We talked until the bell rang. About her cat's weird personality, about my dog's existential crisis, about how we were both secretly obsessed with the same obscure band. The spinach remained. I decided to leave it. At some point, you just have to commit to the bit.

When I got home, my phone buzzed. Unknown number.

'This is Maya. Leo gave me your number. Mittens wanted me to ask if you're sitting with us tomorrow.'

I stared at the screen. Then I typed: 'Only if Mittens promises not to spy on my lunch choices again.'

A moment later: 'Deal. But bring backup spinach. It's your signature look now.'

I smiled. Green teeth and all, maybe I'd actually pulled this off.