Greenscreen Summer

The pool party was already awkward when it became terrifying.

Maya stood by the snack table, nursing a flat soda, watching Jay—hair dripping wet, cutoffs clinging to his thighs—emerge from the pool like he was in a music video. He shook his head like a dog, droplets flying everywhere. Maya was too far to get splashed, but she still flinched. That's just how her nervous system worked lately: always prepared for disaster.

"You okay?" Chloe appeared at her elbow, eyebrows raised. "You look like you've seen a zombie."

"I feel like one," Maya admitted. "Three hours of sleep. My mom's making me do this summer academic enrichment thing and it's literally killing my soul."

"That's rough, bestie." Chloe selected a handful of chips from a bowl. "Hey, want this?" She gestured at a plastic container on the table. "My mom made me bring something healthy to balance out the junk. It's that spinach stuff with strawberries."

Maya made a face. "Hard pass."

But then Jay was walking toward them, towel around his neck, and Maya's stomach did that thing it always did when he was near—like she'd swallowed a butterfly sanctuary. She needed to look cool. Sophisticated. Someone who ate sophisticated foods.

"Actually, yeah," Maya said, reaching for the container. "Love me some greens."

She took a bite.

Something was immediately, catastrophically wrong.

A massive piece of spinach wedged itself between her front teeth and her braces. She could feel it happening like a slow-motion car crash. She tried to subtly work it loose with her tongue, but that only made it worse—now she could taste something else, something calcium-chalky and wrong.

"Yo, Maya!" Jay stood in front of her now, smiling, totally devastating. "Haven't seen you much since school got out. You doing that vitamin C IV drip thing your sister was talking about?"

Maya stared at him. Her mouth was full of spinach doom. She couldn't speak.

"It's vitamin D, actually," Chloe said. "She's doing this whole wellness thing. Maya's really into holistic health now."

Maya's eyes widened. Chloe would pay for this.

"That's actually kinda sick," Jay said. "I've been meaning to get more into supplements. Maybe you could give me some recs?"

He was interested. He was actually interested. And Maya couldn't open her mouth without humiliating herself forever.

She held up one hand, palm out, in what she hoped looked like a thoughtful pause instead of a panic gesture.

Then, because the universe had personally decided to destroy her, she sneezed.

A spray of spinach droplets misted across Jay's t-shirt.

The silence that followed was absolute. Around them, the party continued—laughter splashing, music thumping—but in their little circle, time had stopped. Maya watched Jay's face as he registered what had happened.

His lips twitched.

Then he was laughing. Not mean laughing, but actual, doubled-over laughter, and Chloe was laughing too, and somehow Maya started laughing despite wanting to dissolve into the pool water.

"Okay, that was iconic," Jay said, wiping at his shirt. "Ten out of ten, no notes." He grinned at her. "You're always the most real person at these things. Everyone else is performing, but you're just out here living."

Maya's face burned, but something in her chest loosened. "Is that your way of saying I'm a disaster?"

"I'm saying it's refreshing," Jay said. "Hey, I'm gonna grab some real food. You want to come? We can discuss those vitamin recommendations."

As she walked with him toward the grill, Maya caught Chloe's eye. Her best friend gave her a subtle thumbs-up.

Sometimes, Maya thought, the absolute worst moments were also the ones that changed everything.