Green Teeth and Wild Things

Maya's worst nightmare had green teeth. Specifically, spinach stuck in her braces during lunch period while Tyler Chen watched.

She'd spent all freshman year perfecting the art of invisibility. Hoodie up, head down, zero interactions. But her abuela had decided Maya's "lunch from home" phase needed upgrading, so now Maya carried Tupperware containers filled with abuela's "experiments" to school every day.

Today's experiment: spinach and something that looked suspiciously like green sludge.

"Is that... is that papaya?" Tyler asked, sliding onto the bench across from her. His phone case had a fox sticker on it—a sly-looking cartoon fox wearing sunglasses. Maya knew this because she'd spent way too much time memorizing the back of his neck in English class.

"It's a smoothie," Maya mumbled, trying to cover her braces with her lips. "And there's spinach in it. For, like, iron."

"Iron," Tyler repeated. "Right."

He stared at her Tupperware like it contained radioactive material.

"My grandma thinks I'm anemic," Maya explained. "Which I'm probably not, but she's from the old country, so..." She gestured vaguely,仿佛 hoping he'd understand.

Tyler nodded slowly. "My grandma tried to make me drink wheatgrass juice once. Tasted like lawn clippings."

"This tastes like... health." Maya made a face. "Or punishment."

Tyler laughed, and Maya's stomach did that annoying flip-flop thing that happened whenever cute boys acknowledged her existence. Then she remembered the spinach situation.

"You have..." Tyler pointed at his own teeth. "There's..."

Maya bolted to the bathroom, mortified.

When she returned, Tyler was still there, scrolling through his phone. He didn't look up.

"My cousin says foxes eat fruit sometimes," he said suddenly. "Like, in the wild. They're not just carnivores."

"What?"

"The fox." He tapped his phone case. "My cousin's a wildlife biologist. Says foxes are surprisingly adaptable. They'll eat whatever's available." Tyler slid a papaya across the table toward her—actual papaya, not in a smoothie. "My mom packed way too much fruit. Want some?"

Maya stared at him. Then at the papaya. Then at her spinach smoothie.

"Sure," she said.

Maybe invisibility wasn't all it was cracked up to be. And maybe abuela's experiments weren't so bad either.