Spinach Secrets and Bear encounters

Maya shoved the plastic container of spinach into her backpack, glancing around the cafeteria to make sure nobody noticed. Not that anyone would. At school, she was basically invisible, which honestly wasn't the worst thing.

"You gonna eat that?" her best friend Jada asked, pointing at the spinach like it was radioactive.

"It's for energy," Maya muttered, though the real reason was her mom's new health kick. The woman had practically force-fed her a multivitamin that morning, claiming it would help her "thrive" during finals week. Whatever that meant.

Their conversation got interrupted when Ryan, the cute junior who sat behind Maya in history, walked by. Her dog, Buster, would've barked at him—Buster hated everyone—but Maya just stared at her tray like it held the secrets of the universe.

"He's not gonna notice you if you keep hiding behind that spinach," Jada said, not unkindly.

"Shut up," Maya shot back, but they both knew Jada was right.

That afternoon, while running cable to her room because her parents refused to pay for WiFi upstairs (the struggle was real), Maya heard something crash outside her window. A massive black bear stood in their backyard, staring at her like she was the weird one.

She froze. The bear froze. For ten seconds, they had a moment. Then the bear turned and lumbered away, leaving Maya shaking but weirdly exhilarated.

Later that night, she FaceTimed Jada from her room. "A BEAR. In my BACKYARD."

"No way," Jada said. "Did you get a video?"

Maya held up her phone, showing the grainy footage. "I'm literally never going outside again."

"Or," Jada said, "you could finally have something interesting to talk about with Ryan."

Maya laughed. "Maybe. Or I'll just stick to my spinach and vitamins."

"You're impossible," Jada said, but they were both grinning.

And maybe, just maybe, tomorrow Maya would actually talk to Ryan. Or at least stop hiding behind her spinach.