Operation Green Smile

Maya pressed herself against the lockers, holding her breath like she was underwater. From her vantage point, she could totally spy on Jake—the guy she'd been lowkey obsessed with since September—as he practiced his varsity soccer moves behind the gym. Her best friend Riya said this was borderline creepy behavior, but Maya called it "strategic observation."

"You're literally doing FBI surveillance on a boy who doesn't know you exist," Riya had said that morning.

Maya adjusted the strap of her backpack and inched closer. This was it—she'd finally talk to him after soccer practice. Her heart did that thing where it felt like it was trying to escape her chest cavity.

Suddenly, Jake turned around. Maya froze. Their eyes locked. He started walking toward her.

Panic. So much panic.

"Hey, you're Maya, right? From Mr. Harrison's English class?"

She nodded, unable to form words.

"Cool. I saw your poem—the one about the bear in the grocery store. It was actually fire."

Maya felt herself smiling. This was it. Her moment. She leaned in, ready to say something witty and charming and—

"Oh my god, Maya, stop!" Riya appeared out of nowhere, eyes wide with horror. She pulled out her phone camera. "You have the biggest piece of spinach stuck in your braces! It's been there since lunch! How did you not feel that?!"

Maya's soul left her body.

Jake cracked up. "Dude, that's kind of iconic."

Maya wanted the earth to swallow her whole. She wanted to bear the weight of her eternal embarrassment alone in a dark room forever.

"It's the vitamin D salad," she muttered, frantically trying to pick the spinach out with her tongue. "My mom's on this health kick. Everything is green now."

"Green is good," Jake said, still laughing but not in a mean way. "Hey, I'm going to this party on Saturday. You should come. Bring your spinach security guard." He nodded toward Riya.

Maya finally got the spinach out. "I'll... think about it."

"Do it," Riya mouthed behind his back.

Maya watched Jake walk away, her face burning but something else warming her chest too. Sometimes the most humiliating moments were also the ones that made you feel seen—really seen—spinach and all.