Papaya Protocol

Maya was running late. Again. The cross-country meet had ended twenty minutes ago, and her phone was blowing up with texts from the squad. Coach was gonna kill her.

But Maya wasn't at the meet anymore. She was crouched behind the abandoned Texaco station on 5th, heart pounding like she'd just sprinted a 5K, watching Theo—resident softball captain, certified hottie, and currently wearing the world's most suspicious jacket—duck into the alley behind the bodega.

"I'm literally a spy now," Maya whispered to herself, which was objectively ridiculous because she was just a sophomore who'd failed geometry twice and whose biggest life drama was whether to finally bleach her hair this summer. But here she was, living her best lowercase-s-spy life, tailing Theo Martinez like she knew what she was doing.

She'd noticed things lately. Theo skipping practice (weird—he lived for softball). The way he kept checking his phone during lunch, nail-biting nervous. And yesterday, she'd seen him slipping out of school with a duffel bag that definitely didn't contain baseball gear.

Maya peered around the corner. There was Theo, leaning against the brick wall, talking to some guy she didn't recognize. The guy gestured to a massive plastic water jug sitting between them. Theo nodded, pulled something from his jacket, and—

"Maya?"

She jumped about six inches. Theo was staring right at her, and oh no, she was absolutely busted.

"I was just—"

"Spying on me?" Theo's expression was unreadable. "That's kinda creepy, no offense."

"I was concerned!" Maya protested. "You've been acting so sketch, and I thought maybe you were in trouble or—or dealing or something, I don't know!"

Theo snorted. "Dealing? Seriously?"

"What's with the water jug then?"

He sighed. "Come here."

Reluctantly, Maya stepped closer. The other guy had slipped away at some point, leaving just her, Theo, and the mysterious jug.

"My cousin runs this food truck now, right?" Theo said. "He's doing this popup thing tomorrow at the fair, fusion tacos with tropical fruit. He needed someone to test recipes. The papaya salsa wasn't hitting, so I've been helping him tweak it after practice."

Maya blinked. "You're... taste-testing salsa?"

"Yeah? And the water's because everything keeps coming out way too spicy, and I forgot my water bottle yesterday, hence the jug." He looked at her, almost smiling now. "You really thought I was some kind of criminal?"

"I thought you needed help!" Maya defended, though her face was definitely flaming. "This is so embarrassing, oh my god."

"Hey." Theo shrugged. "Kinda glad you noticed, actually. Means someone cares if I'm acting off. That's... I mean, thanks, I guess?"

They stood there for a second, the awkwardness somehow shifting into something else, something softer and terrifyingly real.

"So," Maya said, "about this papaya salsa..."