Green & Screaming

Maya's hair was supposed to be caramel highlights. Instead, it was orange. Like, construction-cone orange.

"Dude," Jayla said, staring at Maya's reflection in the bathroom mirror. "That's... a choice."

"A bad one," Maya groaned, yanking her dad's baseball cap down. The brim shadowed her eyes. "I can't go to the party like this. Tyler's gonna be there."

Jayla shrugged. "Just own it. Or literally own the hat."

But Maya couldn't own it. She spent the whole Friday night dodging Tyler, clutching her hat like it contained her dignity. When someone finally knocked it off during a game of Kong, Maya froze.

Dead silence.

Then Tyler walked over. "Whoa. Your hair's... honestly kind of sick?"

Maya blinked. "What?"

"Yeah, it's different. But like, in a cool way." He grinned, and Maya's stomach did that annoying flip thing—until she noticed it.

Spinach. From the spinach-artichoke dip. Wedged between her front teeth.

She wanted to die. Actually evaporate. But then Jayla burst out laughing, and Tyler chuckled, and suddenly they were all laughing, Maya included, because what else could she do? Sometimes you're the girl with orange hair and green teeth, and sometimes that's exactly who you need to be.

The next morning, Maya's cat Mochi knocked over her biology poster while chasing a laser pointer. Maya sighed, but then she caught her reflection in the window. No hat. The hair was still bright, still not what she'd planned. But she left it uncovered anyway.

At lunch, surrounded by Jayla's chaotic energy and Tyler's easy smile, Maya laughed so hard she snorted milk out her nose. It was humiliating. It was perfect.

"You know," Tyler said, sliding into the seat beside her, "my abuela says the best things in life are the ones you never saw coming."

Maya smiled, and this time she checked her teeth first. "Yeah," she said. "I think I'm starting to get that."