Green Smoothie Games

Maya's palms were sweating through her running gloves as she lined up for the 400-meter dash. This was it—regionals, andTyler from AP Chem was literally watching from the bleachers. No big deal, except she'd been lowkey crushing on him since September, and now he was about to witness her potentially face-plant in front of everyone.

"You got this, Maya!" her best friend Jazz shouted from the sidelines, sounding way more confident than Maya felt. Maya's stomach did something weird, probably from that questionable spinach smoothie she'd chugged for "performance energy" or whatever nonsense the wellness influencer had promised.

The gun went off.

Maya took off, her legs pumping, everything fine until lap two when the spinach rebellion began. Her stomach roiled like a washing machine stuck on spin cycle. She pushed through it, telling herself she was NOT about to let a green vegetable ruin her moment. Tyler was watching. Her dad was recording. This was supposed to be her season.

But by the final turn, Maya knew—she had two choices: finish and potentially humiliate herself, or bail and live with the cowardice forever.

She chose option three: finishing with style.

Maya crossed the finish line in third place, immediately sprinting—running, actually running—for the nearest trash can. Nothing happened, thank god, but the drama wasn't lost on anyone.

"You okay?"

Tyler. Standing there. Holding her water bottle.

Maya straightened up, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Her palms were still sweating, but suddenly it didn't matter. "Fine. Just had some questionable pre-race fueling choices."

Tyler laughed. "Spinach smoothie? I saw you drinking it earlier. Bold move."

" Rookie mistake," Maya said, grinning despite herself. "Never again."

"Well," Tyler said, scratching the back of his neck like he was nervous too, "my phone died during your race, but my friend got it on video. Want to grab food later and watch it? I'll even pay extra to avoid any vegetables."

Maya's palms stopped sweating. "Deal. But I'm picking the place."

"Fair." He grinned. "Just promise me no spinach."

"Promise."