Spinach Palm readings

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her red solo cup like it was a lifeline. The graduation party was in full swing — people cannonballing, that terrible bass-heavy music shaking the patio furniture, everyone acting like this was the last night of their lives.

"You coming in or what?" shouted Jenna from the water. Maya's best friend since seventh grade, now somehow part of the popular crowd that made Maya feel like she was wearing the wrong shade of everything.

"Maybe later!" Maya lied, pressing her hand against her stomach. She'd spent the last twenty minutes picking spinach out of her teeth from the dip — why did she always go for the spinach artichoke? Why did social situations have to involve food that stuck around literally?

She moved toward a quieter corner of the yard, where a girl sat cross-legged on a lounge chair, surrounded by candles and crystals. Chloe. The 'witchy' girl everyone whispered about, usually while doubling over with laughter.

"Palm reading?" Chloe asked, not looking up. "Five bucks."

Maya hesitated, then sat. What did she have to lose? Five bucks and whatever dignity she had left.

Chloe turned over Maya's hand, tracing lines with surprising gentleness. "You're scared of something," she said. "But it's not what everyone thinks. They think you're shy. But you're not scared of people. You're scared of becoming someone you don't recognize."

Maya pulled her hand back like she'd been burned. "How did you —"

"Your palm doesn't lie." Chloe's dark eyes crinkled. "Also, you still have spinach in your teeth."

Maya covered her mouth, horrified, but Chloe was already laughing. Not mean laughter. The real kind.

"I was hoping you'd notice before you went back to Jenna," Chloe said. "She's nice enough, but she'd let you walk around like that all day. Too worried about being awkward herself."

They sat there while the party raged on, talking about everything and nothing. About how high school felt like a performance they'd both miscast for. About how they missed the days before they had to care about being cool. About how maybe none of this would matter in three months.

"Hey," Chloe said as the sun started going down. "You should come to my pool next weekend. No popular kids. Just people who actually swim instead of posing for Instagram."

Maya smiled, finally letting herself breathe. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I'd like that."

She walked back toward the party, toward Jenna yelling her name, toward the pool that had seemed so terrifying twenty minutes ago. But something had shifted. Maya had made a real friend. And somehow, the spinach in her teeth didn't seem like such a disaster anymore. It was just — well, just spinach. She was done performing.