Green Smile at the Pool

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her Solo cup like it was a life raft. The whole sophomore class was here at Jordan's house, the sun blazing, the water glinting like diamonds. And Tyler was there, leaning against the diving board, hair wet from swimming, looking like every Tumblr aesthetic post come to life.

"You gonna jump in or what?" her best friend Chloe whispered, elbowing her. "Tyler's literally staring at you."

Maya's stomach did that thing where it felt like her insides were rewriting themselves. She'd been crushing on Tyler since seventh period English when they'd been paired up for that poetry project. He'd written a haiku about his dog. She'd written one about existential dread. They'd bonded over how much they both hated group projects.

"I'm good," Maya lied, sipping her punch. "Just enjoying the atmosphere."

But then Jordan's mom came out with spinach artichoke dip—fancy, adult stuff that made the party feel suddenly sophisticated. Maya's stomach growled. She hadn't eaten all day because she'd spent three hours straightening her hair and applying mascara until her eyelashes looked like spider legs.

"Try this," Chloe said, shoving a chip loaded with green stuff into Maya's face. "It's actually fire."

Maya took the chip. And that's when Tyler pushed off from the diving board, slicing through the water like he was part fish, emerging right in front of her, slicking his hair back.

"Hey," he said, wiping water from his eyes. "You coming in?"

Every single brain cell Maya possessed vacated the premises. She smiled wide, forgetting completely about the spinach artichoke dip now wedged between her front teeth.

"Yeah," she managed, her voice cracking. "Just finishing my—"

Tyler's expression flickered. Not mean, just... confused. Then he smiled back, but it was different. "Cool. Cool. Well, see you in there."

He swam away. Maya's soul left her body.

"Bro," Chloe said, pulling her phone down. "You've had something in your teeth for like five minutes."

Maya's face burned hotter than the sun. She grabbed a handful of chips and stuffed them in her mouth, spinach and all, because at this point, what did dignity even matter?

"I hate everything," she mumbled through green mush.

But then Tyler was back, treading water in front of her. "Hey, you got any more of those chips? The dip's actually kinda good."

Maya paused. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't a total disaster. Maybe Tyler didn't care about spinach teeth. Maybe she could stop overthinking everything and just—

"Yeah," she said, and actually smiled. "Yeah, I do."

She took a running leap and cannonballed into the pool, spinach disaster and all. Sometimes, she thought, surfacing through the bubbles, you just gotta jump in anyway.