Orange Peel Espionage

I never thought I'd be that person — the creeper in the corner, basically a low-budget spy at my own high school. But here I was, wedged between a vending machine and a trophy case, watching Leo laugh with his friends near the gym doors.

My phone buzzed. Jenna: 'U alive? U said u'd talk to him 20 mins ago'

I typed back: 'In position. Recon phase.'

She replied with five eye-roll emojis.

My pocket vibrated again, but this time it wasn't Jenna. My mom's contact photo popped up — her holding our cat like a baby. I ignored it. She'd been blowing up my phone all morning about my vitamin D deficiency. 'Take your supplements,' she'd texted at 7 AM. 'Don't forget your vitamins.' Apparently, according to her, I was one missed pill away from getting rickets or something.

I adjusted my position and my elbow knocked something loose. A stray orange — the one I'd grabbed from the cafeteria because I read somewhere that citrus reduces stress — rolled out from my backpack and across the linoleum floor.

It rolled. And rolled. And rolled.

All the way to Leo's feet.

He looked down. His friends looked down. I looked down. I looked at the ceiling. I looked at my shoes. I looked everywhere except at Leo Martin holding my orange.

'Yo,' he called out. 'Someone lose an orange?'

My face burned. I could've played it cool. I could've shrugged and walked away. But instead, I literally ninja-rolled out from my hiding spot like some kind of disaster, snatched the orange from his hand, and said, 'That's mine, thanks.'

He laughed. Not mean-laughed. Actually laughed. 'Were you seriously spying on me from behind the vending machine?'

'No,' I said. 'I was... I was checking for... vitamin C.'

He raised an eyebrow. 'In a vending machine?'

'It's a whole thing,' I said. 'Very scientific.'

Leo smiled, and it was different from his other smiles — softer, realer. 'Well, Science Girl, next time you need to spy on me, just say hi. I promise I'm way less interesting up close.'

'You're literally the most interesting person in our grade,' I blurted, then immediately wanted to die.

He laughed again. 'Then you have really low standards.' He handed me back my orange. 'Here. For your research.'

I stood there holding my orange, feeling like the biggest loser on planet Earth, until Leo yelled, 'Hey, Science Girl! You coming or what?'

He was waiting for me.

I grabbed my backpack and ran after him, orange in hand, heart pounding, vitamin D deficiency completely forgotten. Some missions fail so hard they actually win. Jenna was gonna lose her mind.