Papaya Smoothie Social Suicide

The papaya smoothie sat on the cafeteria table like radioactive waste, which honestly wasn't far from the truth. My mom had gone through this 'wellness phase' and now I was basically her personal science experiment.

'Drink your vitamin bomb, Maya!' she'd chirped that morning, blending together papaya, spinach, and something green that looked like it came from a swamp. 'It's got literally every vitamin you need!'

Now here I was, third week of sophomore year, trying to look chill while my smoothie separated into disturbing layers. And naturally, Marcus chose that exact moment to walk by.

Marcus Diaz. The guy who'd sat behind me in homeroom since seventh grade. The guy I'd been lowkey crushing on for approximately three years.

'Nice smoothie,' he said, sliding into the seat across from me like he owned the place.

I panicked. 'It's... it's a detox?'

DETOX. I said DETOX. To Marcus Diaz. Who definitely thought I was weird now.

But then he grinned. 'My mom's on this health kick too. Made me drink kale juice yesterday. Tasted like literal lawn clippings.'

My heart did this embarrassing flutter thing. 'No way. This has papaya AND spinach. I'm pretty sure my mom's trying to turn me into a rabbit.'

Marcus laughed, and it was better than any vitamin I'd ever taken. 'That's bull. You'd be a cute rabbit though.'

Wait. Did he just say—

'So,' he continued, leaning in like he was sharing classified intel, 'there's this party Friday. You going?'

I took a sip of my swamp smoothie to buy time. BIG MISTAKE. The spinach chunk hit the back of my throat and I literally choked. Not cute choked. Like, actually couldn't breathe.

Marcus jumped up. 'You okay?'

I wheezed out something between a laugh and a death rattle. 'Fine. Just... vitamins attacking.'

He was smiling at me. Like, actually smiling. Not polite smiling. Real smiling.

'Pick you up at seven?' he asked. 'If you survive the smoothie, I mean.'

I took another sip. Maybe this health food thing wasn't so bad after all.