Green Smoothie Chaos

Maya's phone buzzed with exactly three texts from Jenna before first period even started.

"U heard about the party rite??"

"Tyler's gonna b there"

"WEAR THE GREEN DRESS"

Maya groaned and buried her face in her hands. Jenna was convinced that if Maya just wore that absolutely hideous emerald dress from the thrift store, Tyler would finally notice her after two whole years of existing in the same AP English class. The same Tyler who thought symbolism was a type of cereal.

"You good?" asked Kai, sliding into the cafeteria seat beside her. He set down a tray with what looked like literal lawn clippings blended with pond water. "Want some of my smoothie? My mom's on this health kick again."

Maya peered at the mysterious green sludge. "What's even in that?"

"Kale, spinach, banana, and..." Kai squinted at the recipe on his phone. "Something about spirulina? It tastes like grass but my skin has never looked better."

"Spinach?" Maya made a face. "That's a hard pass."

"More for me then." Kai took a giant gulp and immediately regretted it. His eyes watered. "Okay that was awful. But in other news, I heard Tyler's having people over Saturday and—"

"NO. Absolutely not." Maya dropped her head onto the cafeteria table with a thud. "Everyone's already trying to force me to go. Jenna's been blowing up my phone all morning about some dress and—"

"Wait." Kai set down the spinach disaster. "Jenna's making you wear THE dress? The one from—"

"YES. The one from the thrift store that makes me look like a depressed salad."

Kai lost it. He was laughing so hard he accidentally knocked over his smoothie, which spilled everywhere and somehow splashed onto none other than Tyler's pristine white sneakers as he walked past.

The entire cafeteria went silent.

Tyler stopped. Looked at the green disaster on his shoes. Looked at Maya. "Nice aim."

Maya's face burned. She could literally feel her soul leaving her body. This was it. This was her villain origin story.

"My bad," Kai said, entirely unbothered. "That was actually mostly spinach. Good for your shoes, probably."

Tyler just stared at them. Then, to everyone's shock, he actually smiled. "You're coming to my party right? Both of you."

Maya blinked. "Wait, what?"

"You seem..." Tyler shrugged. "Not boring. Most people just apologize awkwardly. You just bull-doze right through the awkwardness. It's refreshing." He gestured at his shoes. "These were ugly anyway."

As Tyler walked away, Maya and Kai just looked at each other.

"Did that just happen?" Maya whispered.

"I think," Kai said, wiping spinach off the table, "you just got invited to the party while wearing your regular hoodie. Jenna's gonna lose her mind."

Maya couldn't help it. She started laughing. "I guess sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways."

"Or," Kai suggested, "sometimes it works in spinach-based ways."

"Oh my god, never say that again."

But for the first time in forever, Maya didn't feel like she had to bear the weight of everyone's expectations. She could just... be. Even with spinach smoothie chaos all around her.