Green Smoothie Disaster

Maya stared at her phone in horror. The papaya-spinach smoothie she'd spent twenty minutes making for the 'perfect aesthetic' breakfast Instagram post was now all over her new white hoodie. And her iPhone, which had been documenting the whole thing, was currently playing her embarrassing ringtone—loud—at 7:43 AM on a crowded bus.

"Smooth morning?" The fox-eyed boy from her AP Bio class smirked from the seat across.

Maya's face burned. She'd had a crush on Leo since he'd fixed her calculator last month, his sharp amber eyes exactly like the fox that prowled behind the school. She'd wanted him to notice her—but not like this. Not with spinach stuck in her teeth and papaya dripping down her chin.

She scrambled to mute her phone, but the notifications kept flooding in. Her friends from lunch were already commenting on her failed 'that girl' aesthetic post. HEALTHY QUEEN, one said. WE SEE U TRYING, another added.

Leo reached into his backpack and pulled out a pack of napkins. "My mom makes these smoothies," he said, sliding them across the aisle. "Said they'd change my life. They just changed my shirt color."

Maya looked up. Leo was smiling—actually smiling, not smirking. He pointed to a faint green stain on his own gray sweatshirt.

"Papaya week three," he said. "Gave up after it exploded in my backpack during third period."

The bus lurched, and Maya's phone nearly slipped from her sticky fingers. Leo caught it, wiped the screen with a clean napkin, and handed it back.

"You're Maya, right? From Bio?"

She nodded, suddenly aware of the spinach—definitely still in her teeth.

"Cool," he said, grabbing his backpack as the bus approached their stop. "Hey, you doing the spring carnival setup?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Good." He stood up, glancing back with that fox-like grin. "I'll save you a papaya-free spot on the smoothie crew."

Maya watched him go, then pulled out her phone. She deleted the embarrassing photo, typed out a text to Leo, and hit send before she could overthink it. And then she checked her teeth in the black screen—yep, definitely still had spinach in them.

Her phone buzzed. I'll bring extra napkins, Leo had written.

Maybe the smoothie disaster wasn't so bad after all.