Green Teeth & Electric Moments

The pool party of the year. That's what Maya called it, and honestly? She wasn't wrong. Everyone who was anyone from sophomore year was floating in Tyler's backyard, the **water** glinting under string lights like something out of a movie. I stood there in my **orange** board shorts—Maya said they made me look like a "confident gummy bear" which, honestly, I'd take.

I'd been crushing on Tyler since he defended my math presentation against Chad's "that's so cringe" comments in September. Now he was doing cannonballs off the diving board while I hyped myself up near the snack table. Big moment. Do or die. My best friend Leo gave me the nod from across the pool. Go time.

"Hey Tyler!" I called out, channeling main character energy. "Cool party."

He surfaced, shaking water from his hair like a golden retriever. "Yo, thanks! You gonna swim or what?"

"Yeah, totally. Just, uh, grabbing some food first."

And that's when I made the mistake. The appetizer table had these fancy spinach-artichoke dip things that looked gourmet as hell. I loaded up a plate, confident, smooth, about to make my move.

Then Maya's eyes went wide. She FaceTimed me mid-chew. I picked up, mouth full, and she screamed: "OMG YOU HAVE SPINACH IN YOUR TEETH. IT'S HUGE. EVERYONE CAN SEE IT."

I froze. The **spinach** was practically waving at people. My face burned hotter than a jalapeño. I started backing toward the house to fix it, but then—CRACK.

**Lightning** split the sky. Real talk: I'd never seen actual lightning before, not like this. Purple-white bolts illuminating everything. Everyone screamed. People scattered. Rain dumped down like buckets.

We all ended up crushed under the patio umbrella, twenty wet teenagers squeezed together like sardines. Tyler ended up beside me, his shoulder pressed against mine, both of us dripping and laughing at how completely chaotic this night had become.

"So," he said, grinning, "about that spinach..."

"We don't talk about the spinach," I said, hiding my face.

"Nah, it was kind of iconic," he said. "10/10, would make that mistake again."

Maybe it wasn't the smooth moment I'd planned. But with his arm around my shoulder, watching the storm turn the backyard into a light show? Yeah. I'd take it.