Spinach Between Worlds

The pool party was already giving Maya second-hand anxiety, but there was no backing out now. Junior year. Social suicide zone. She'd spent forty-five minutes straightening her hair that now frizzed in the humidity, watching popular kids cannonball into the deep end while she sat on the edge with her legs in the water, feeling like a fraud.

"Hey!" someone called. Maya turned to see Jordan—the enigma of eleventh grade, the human **sphinx** nobody could figure out—standing there with two red Solo cups. "You looked like you needed saving."

Jordan handed her a cup. Maya's heart did that embarrassing fluttery thing. Jordan was gorgeous in that effortless way, all hoodies and knowing half-smiles and rumors about why they'd transferred mid-semester. Nobody knew their story. That was the point.

"Thanks," Maya managed.

"Swimming?" Jordan nodded toward the pool.

"Maybe later."

"Cool." Jordan sat beside her, close enough that their arms almost touched. Maya's brain short-circuited. This was fine. This was totally fine.

Then Jordan smirked. "You got a little..." gesturing at their own teeth.

Maya froze. The spinach dip. The GODFORSAKEN spinach dip she'd eaten earlier thinking she'd be subtle. She'd been walking around with green shrapnel in her teeth for forty-five minutes.

"Oh my GOD," she whispered, and before she could process the mortification, **lightning** cracked the sky open—a sudden, violent flash that made everyone scream. Thunder shook the ground. Rain came down in sheets, turning the pool party into chaos.

Jordan laughed, grabbing her hand. "Come on!" They bolted for the covered patio, **swimming** through the sudden downpour, both of them soaked and breathless and laughing like idiots. Maya's makeup was running down her face. The spinach was definitely gone now.

They collapsed under the patio roof, dripping wet, hearts racing. Jordan looked at her, really looked at her, and said, "You know, you're the only person here who's not trying to be someone they're not."

Maya blinked. The compliment hit harder than the embarrassment had. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Jordan's hand was still in hers. "Also, full disclosure—I have spinach in my teeth too."

Maya laughed so hard she couldn't breathe. The rain kept falling, but for the first time all night, she wasn't watching from the edge anymore.