Spinach in My Teeth

My life officially ended at 3:47 PM on a Tuesday. That's when I noticed the spinach wedged between my front teeth — right in the middle of my first-ever conversation with Leo, the only senior who'd ever looked twice at me.

"So, you play padel?" Leo asked, leaning against the lockers like he owned them. Which he kind of did, given his dad owned half the country club.

"Yeah!" I said, flashing what I thought was a confident smile. "My uncle has a court. I'm actually pretty decent."

Total lie. I'd never picked up a padel racket in my life. But the word tumbled out before I could stop it — the way lies do when you're fifteen and desperate.

"Cool," Leo said. "We should play sometime."

My stomach did that thing where it forgets how to stomach. "Totally!"

"Tomorrow?" He grinned. "After school?"

And that's how I found myself at my uncle's empty padel court the next day, YouTube tutorial paused on my phone, sweating through my favorite vintage tee.

Then Leo showed up with his friends. His actual friends. The ones who played varsity everything and had Instagram followers in the four digits.

"Show us what you got,," one of them called out. They called him Bull — probably because he was built like one and charged through life like he owned the field.

I stepped up to the service line, racket trembling. My dog, Buster, was sleeping in his carrier by the bench (I'd had to bring him; my mom was at some conference and he'd been acting weird since the cat next door moved in). I served.

The ball hit the net.

"Nice try," Leo said, but his eyes were already drifting toward Bull.

I tried again. Again. Again. Each serve worse than the last, my face burning hotter. They weren't even being mean — just watching, which was somehow worse. At least if they'd laughed, I could've been the funny new girl. Instead I was just the girl who lied about playing padel and couldn't serve to save her life.

"Hey," Leo said finally. "It's all good. We all start somewhere."

Bull muttered something that sounded like "waste of time."

I grabbed my bag and fled, tears stinging. I'd barely made it to my bike when Leo caught up.

"Hey, wait up." He was breathless. "Look, about padel —"

"I know, I'm terrible." I wiped my eyes. "I lied, okay? I just wanted you to think I was cool."

Leo laughed. "Dude, I know. My cousin told me you'd never played before. That's why I invited you — Bull never goes easy on anyone, and I wanted to see him get frustrated. Your serves were hilarious."

I stared. "You... knew?"

"Why do you think I showed up with witnesses?" He grinned. "Besides, you've still got spinach in your teeth from lunch. I figured anyone rocking that kind of confidence all day deserves a chance."

I groaned. "You knew about that TOO?"

"The whole cafeteria knew." He bumped my shoulder. "But you owned it. That's what matters."

Maybe my life hadn't ended after all. Maybe it was just beginning.