Papaya Purple Rings

The lunchroom smelled like desperation and tater tots. Maya sat across from Liam, her stomach doing that nervous flutter thing it always did when he looked at her with those stupidly perfect brown eyes.

"Try it," he said, sliding the papaya across the table like it was contraband. "My abuela says it's a superfood."

"It looks like alien insides," Maya said, poking at the orange flesh with her plastic spork. The black seeds stared back at her like tiny judging eyes.

Liam laughed, and Maya's heart did that embarrassing skip-beat thing. "Come on. Don't be a chicken."

"I'm not a chicken, I'm selectively adventurous," she said, but she took a bite anyway. And okay, fine — it wasn't terrible. Sweet, kind of musky, weirdly tropical. Like summer vacation for your mouth.

"See?" Liam grinned. "Told you."

Before Maya could respond, Jackson Miller — aka the human embodiment of every dude-bro stereotype ever — bumped into their table on purpose. His varsity jacket said BULL in block letters across the back, because their school mascot was a fighting bull and Jackson took this way too seriously.

"What's this, health food hour?" Jackson sneered, knocking the papaya container. Seeds spilled everywhere like black tears. "Weird."

Maya's face burned. She started gathering her stuff, ready to bail, but Liam didn't even look up. He just kept eating his papaya like Jackson was invisible, and something about that made Maya's chest feel tight in a good way.

"You good?" Liam asked after Jackson stalked off to victimize someone else.

"Yeah," she said, and realized she actually meant it. "Hey, can I have another piece?"

Later that night, Maya stood in her bathroom examining her fingernails like they held the secrets to the universe. Her mom had left a bottle of biotin on the counter — some hair, skin, and nails vitamin she swore by. Maya unscrewed the cap and dry-swallowed one without thinking.

Gross.

But also: kind of powerful?

She thought about papaya seeds scattered across a cafeteria table. About Liam not backing down. About how for sixteen years she'd been waiting to become someone bolder, someone who didn't care what Jackson Miller thought, someone who tried weird fruit and took vitamins and said what she meant.

Maybe that girl had been here all along.

Maya smiled at her reflection, then texted Liam: "Papaya tomorrow?"

His response came instantly: "Only if you're brave enough for the seeds."