Greener on the Other Side

Maya dragged herself to the neighborhood pool party feeling like a literal zombie. Three hours of sleep + TikTok doom-scrolling will do that to you. Her best friend Chloe had been blowing up her phone all morning:

"BESTIE IT'S GONNA BE LIT!! Jake's gonna be there and I heard he likes you 😏"

Maya groaned. She wasn't ready for Jake, or social interaction, or the blinding Saturday sun. But Chloe was waiting by the gate, bouncing in her bikini like an over-caffeinated puppy.

"Finally! You look... intense?" Chloe's expression shifted from excitement to concern. "Why're you making that face?"

Maya froze. Chloe was staring at her teeth.

"You have literally the biggest piece of spinach stuck in your braces. How? You haven't even eaten today."

"That's not spinach." Maya's face burned hotter than the pavement. "It's... braces bands. They're green. It's a look."

Chloe doubled over laughing so hard people were turning to stare. Maya wanted to dissolve into the concrete. This is what happened when your brain operated on 5% battery — you forgot basic things like eating actual food instead of just braces accessories.

"Maya!" Jake waved from across the pool. He was treading water, looking unfairly cute and awake.

Maya's stomach did that fluttery thing that was equal parts excitement and nausea. She froze, suddenly hyper-aware of her frizzy hair, the mismatched bikini top she'd grabbed in the dark, and yes — the stupid green rubber bands in her braces that she'd insisted were "fashion."

"Go talk to him!" Chloe whispered-shoved.

"I can't. Look at me! I'm a zombie with spinach-teeth!"

"First off, it's not spinach. Second, Jake's not looking at your teeth. He's looking at you."

Jake swam over, dripping wet, smiling directly at Maya. "Hey. You made it. Wanna hang out in the deep end? The shallow zone is overrun by seventh graders doing Marco Polo."

Maya's brain short-circuited. Deep end. Jake. Her.

"Sure," she squeaked. "Just — need a minute."

She ran to the bathroom, locked the door, and stared at herself in the mirror. The green bands were hideous. Her hair was a mess. She was tired and awkward and definitely not ready for whatever this was.

But then she thought about Jake — how he'd noticed her, how he'd saved her a spot. How Chloe had been hyping her up all week because she actually thought Maya was worth hyping.

Maya popped out all four green bands. Let her teeth just be teeth. Maybe imperfect braces weren't the worst thing in the world.

She walked back to the pool, jumped straight into the deep end, and surfaced right next to Jake.

"Took you long enough," he grinned. "I was about to send a search party."

"Zombie mode was hard to shake," Maya admitted. "But I think I'm awake now."

"Good," he said. "Cause we were gonna get pizza later. You in?"

Maya looked at Chloe, who was now dramatically pantomiming screaming from the sidelines. She looked at Jake, waiting for her answer.

"Yeah," Maya said. "I'm in."