Green Teeth and Cannonballs

Maya stood at the edge of the **pool**, clutching her towel like a security blanket. The water sparkled with that perfect blue that only exists in Instagram posts, and inside it floated the popular crowd—Jordan and his friends, laughing at something she definitely wasn't part of.

"You coming in or what?" Jordan called, dripping wet and annoyingly confident.

Maya's stomach did that thing where it simultaneously twisted and floated. She'd been working on her cannonball for weeks, practicing in her bathtub when her parents weren't home. But now, standing here in her two-piece that felt somehow too small and too big at the same time, she remembered the **spinach** artichoke dip her mom had forced her to eat before leaving. "You need something in your stomach, Maya, you're all skin and bones."

What she hadn't realized was that spinach was basically green food coloring that refused to let go.

"Maybe later," Maya managed, pressing her lips together.

Suddenly, Jordan's Golden Retriever, Buster—that **dog** who was basically the mascot of the whole friend group—came barreling out of nowhere, shook his entire body like he'd just emerged from the deep end, and sent water flying everywhere. Including all over Maya.

"Buster! Dude, chill!" Jordan laughed, scrambling out of the pool.

But as Maya stood there, dripping and mortified, she caught her reflection in the sliding glass door. Two perfect green streaks decorated her front teeth where the spinach had made its stand.

Jordan reached her, his eyes widening. Then he started laughing. Not mean laughing—the real kind, where his shoulders shook and he had to wipe his eyes. "Yo, is that—?"

"Spinach," Maya whispered, wanting to evaporate. "My mom's dip."

"That's honestly iconic." He gestured to the pool. "You should come in. Cannonball contest?"

"I can't," she said. "My teeth—"

""Nobody cares, Maya. Everyone's got something. Last week, Marcus puked in the deep end." He grinned. "Literally nobody talks about it anymore. Well, except right now."

Something in Maya's chest loosened. She dropped her towel, took three steps back, and sprinted toward the water, tucking her knees to her chest in what she hoped was a passable cannonball. When she surfaced, sputtering and grinning, Jordan gave her a thumbs-up.

"Solid 7 out of 10," he called. "Work on your form, but the green teeth? That's a forever 10."