Spinach at the Stakeout

The country club pool shimmered like something out of a movie—the kind where everyone's teeth were too white and their laughs too practiced. I adjusted my polo, feeling like a fraud. First real job, first time not being the poorest kid in the room, and I was basically serving spinach dip to people whose cars cost more than my mom's salary.

Chloe—the girl I'd been lowkey obsessing over since June—slid into the chair across from me. Her red hair caught the sun, making her look like some kind of fox. Clever, pretty, and completely impossible to pin down.

"Enjoying your first day?" she asked, popping a piece of spinach in her mouth. I hadn't even noticed the healthy green mess on my own plate until then. My health-nut dad had packed my lunch like I was training for the Olympics or something.

"It's chill," I lied, because saying 'I feel like I'm gonna puke' wasn't exactly the move.

The cable guy—some kid named Marcus from my English class—was arguing with his coworker by the equipment shed. Something about a severed line from last night's storm. The whole pool area's WiFi had been dead since morning, which meant everyone was actually, like, talking to each other. Weird.

Then Jackson rolled up. Total bull of a human being— quarterback build, rich parents, ego the size of Texas. He'd been giving me crap since orientation. "Yo, spinach breath, my sister's been waiting for her smoothie for like ten minutes."

Chloe rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck.

"Actually," she said, "he's on break."

Jackson blinked. Whatever he'd expected—probably me scrambling to apologize—this wasn't it.

"Whatever." He grabbed a smoothie from the passing waiter's tray and stalked off.

"You didn't have to do that," I said, feeling my face heat up.

"Jackson's been a jerk since seventh grade," she said, shrugging. "Also, I kind of like that you eat spinach. It's... unexpected."

My heart did something stupid in my chest.

Marcus from cable finally got whatever fixed, and suddenly everyone's phones started buzzing all at once. The moment broke. Chloe checked hers, then mine—still cracked, still free.

"Hey," she said, standing up. "Some of us are hitting the creek later. No pool, no parents, no spinach dip unless you want it. You should come."

"Yeah," I said, already planning exactly which shirt to wear. "Yeah, I'm in."