Green Teeth and Pink Hair

The first day of sophomore year at Northwood High, Maya decided to reinvent herself. Gone was the middle school girl who blended into lockers. This year, she'd be bold.

"You need an aesthetic," said Chloe, the friend she'd met at orientation, flipping her perfectly curled hair over one shoulder. "I'm thinking cottagecore meets grunge."

Maya nodded enthusiastically. Chloe knew everything about being cool at Northwood. She'd already advised Maya to ditch her old wardrobe and start listening to indie bands Maya had never heard of.

So there Maya sat at lunch, across from Chloe and her squad, wearing a thrifted floral dress with combat boots. She'd even dyed a streak of her dark hair pink—one of those impulsive decisions that seemed brilliant at 2 AM.

"Oh my god, are you eating PAPAYA?" Chloe asked, wrinkling her nose. "That's literally so random."

Maya's stomach dropped. She'd packed her own lunch that morning—papaya chunks she'd actually liked since her abuela introduced her to it. Suddenly it felt wrong. Too weird. Too much.

"It's just... fruit," Maya said, her voice smaller than she wanted.

Chloe laughed, but not unkindly. "You're such an individualist, Maya. I love that about you."

The conversation moved on. Maya kept eating, conscious of every chew, every swallow. She laughed at their jokes even when she didn't find them funny. She agreed that the new biology teacher was "cringe" and that the football players were "mid."

Then, somewhere between a story about Chloe's summer in the Hamptons and everyone taking out their lip gloss, someone giggled.

"Maya..." said a quiet girl named Riley, who'd been sitting quietly sketching in a notebook all lunch. "You have something in your teeth."

Maya's heart stopped.

"It's SPINACH," Chloe announced dramatically. "From the salad bar, right?"

"I didn't get the salad bar," Maya whispered.

The table went silent as everyone realized exactly where the green flecks had come from. Maya's face burned hotter than she'd ever felt possible. She grabbed her backpack and fled to the bathroom, locking herself in a stall.

Through the thin partition, she heard voices.

"That was harsh, Chloe," said Riley's voice.

"Whatever, she's trying too hard," Chloe replied. "Did you see her hair? She's obviously compensating."

Maya stared at herself in the mirror—pink streak, papaya-stained teeth, wanting so badly to belong that she'd stopped being herself entirely.

Her phone buzzed. A text from her middle school best friend, Kai: *First day survival check? You got this.*

Maya typed back: *Barely. Tell you later?*

*Always,* Kai replied.

Maya rinsed her mouth, wiped her face, and walked back to the cafeteria. She didn't return to Chloe's table. Instead, she found Riley sitting alone under a tree outside, sketchbook open.

"Hey," Maya said, sitting down. "What are you drawing?"

Riley looked up, surprised. Then she smiled. "Want to see?"

It was a charcoal drawing of Maya laughing at lunch—with spinach in her teeth, rendered with such detail and gentleness that it didn't look embarrassing. It looked human.

"You have a great laugh," Riley said. "Even when you're faking it."

Maya laughed for real this time. "Yeah. I think I'm done with that part."

"Good," Riley said. "Because I was going to say—that pink hair? It's actually pretty badass."

Maya smiled, and this time, she didn't worry about what was in her teeth.