Green Tooth Friday

The pool party was already lit when Maya dragged me through the gate. Music thumped, people laughed, and in the center of it all, the water glittered like something from a TikTok filter. I wasn't trying to swim today—or ever, really. Not with the whole sophomore class watching.

"You're literally being so extra," Maya said, shoving my phone toward me. "We talked about this. You're getting in that pool."

"Hard pass," I shot back. "My hair's not ready for its aquatic debut."

We'd spent the morning at her house, where I'd definitely eaten way too much of that spinach-artichoke dip her mom made. Whatever. Worth it.

Suddenly, this golden retriever came BOLTING out of nowhere, somehow grabbing a slice of pizza from some guy's hand, and booking it straight toward the pool. The guy—this cute junior I'd been lowkey crushing on—chased after the dog, slipped on wet concrete, and SPLASH. Right into the shallow end. Pizza everywhere.

Everyone froze. Then ERUPTED. Not laughing at him, but WITH him. He stood up, pizza slice clinging to his shirt like a carnivorous starfish, and bowed.

"Best party trick ever," someone yelled.

That's when it clicked. Nobody was watching me. Nobody was analyzing my stomach or my hair or whatever else I'd been stressing about. They were just... living.

Maya raised her eyebrows. "Well?"

"Fine," I sighed, kicking off my slides. "But if I drown, you get my spotify playlist."

I cannonballed in. The water rushed into my ears, muffling everything for one perfect second. When I surfaced, Maya was grinning. Then she squinted.

"Um, you have a little..." She pointed at her front teeth.

My stomach dropped. I ran my tongue over my teeth. That tiny piece of spinach from the dip. Had been there for TWO HOURS. While I'd been worried about everything else, I'd been walking around with salad in my teeth.

I dunked underwater to hide my face, dying. But when I came up, Maya was laughing, and pizza guy was climbing out of the pool, and someone had rescued the pizza from the dog.

"You good?" Maya asked, still grinning.

"Never better," I said, and actually meant it. Sometimes the most embarrassing moments are exactly what you need to realize nobody's actually watching that hard. And that's kind of beautiful, actually.