Spinach in My Braces

Maya's phone buzzed for the third time. *You coming? Everyone's at Jordan's.* She stared at the reflection in her locker mirror — green specks decorating the metal wires of her braces. Spinach. Because apparently the universe wanted her social life to remain as tragic as freshman year.

"You're actually not going?" Chloe asked, leaning against the row of lockers. "It's Jordan's party. His parents are literally in Cabo."

"Can't," Maya lied, popping a mint. "Mom's making me dog-sit the neighbors' Golden Retriever. Buster's apparently having separation anxiety or something."

Chloe's eyes lit up. "Wait, the Smiths' dog? That fluffy one from Instagram?"

Maya froze. She'd just accidentally made herself sound responsible instead of pathetic. "Yeah. Super sad situation. Really bonded with him."

"That's actually so sweet," Chloe said, and Maya felt like a fraud. A fraud with spinach in her braces. "Well, text me if you escape."

*If she escaped.* Right. Because the real truth was Maya's parents had canceled the cable package to "save money" for college, and now she was stuck at home binge-watching Gilmore Girls on her laptop while everyone else lived their best lives at Jordan's.

Buster the Golden Retriever was currently passed out on her feet, unaware he was now her social cover story.

Her phone lit up again. A text from her mom: *Cable's back on! Try it now!* And then from Jordan: *Hey, heard you're busy. No worries.*

The pathetic part was, she'd been obsessing over Jordan since seventh period algebra. He'd smiled at her when she'd actually solved an equation on the board. And now she was choosing a dog and binge-watching over possibly the only night he'd ever notice her.

Maya looked at Buster, who thumped his tail against the floor.

"You know what?" she said to the dog. "I'm done being the person who stays home."

She threw on her denim jacket, checked her teeth for spinach (clear, thank you very much), and grabbed her keys. The cable could wait. Jordan's smile couldn't.

Twenty minutes later, she walked through Jordan's front door, spinach-free and terrified. And there he was. Across the room. Grinning.

"Hey," Jordan said. "Glad you made it. I was hoping you'd escape."