Spinach Smoothies & Survival Mode

Leo's mom had gone full wellness influencer mode, which meant the dreaded morning ritual: chugging a spinach smoothie that looked like something you'd mop off a kitchen floor. "It's full of iron, mijo! You need strength for padel today!" Padel. The sport everyone at school was suddenly obsessed with. Leo had zero coordination but infinite hope, especially since Maya played on the varsity team.

At the courts, the air smelled like expensive perfume and testosterone. Maya was there, laughing with her perfect hair and impossible serve. Leo's stomach did that awful flip-flop thing. "Hey Leo! You're playing mixed doubles with me," she called, and his brain short-circuited.

The game was a disaster. Leo tripped. He swung at nothing. He accidentally hit the ball into the next court. But Maya didn't even care. "You're hilarious," she said, and something in his chest unwound.

Afterward, someone suggested they go to the lake for the weekend. Leo's parents were cool with it (they were just thrilled he was being social), so suddenly he was camping with the cool kids. They made fun of his kale chips and his mom's texts, but Maya shared her blanket with him when the fire died down.

That's when they heard it. A twig snapped, loud and deliberate. Something massive moved through the trees. Everyone froze. Then a low grunt echoed from the darkness, and Leo's heart practically jumped out of his throat.

"Bear," someone whispered, and all the prep school confidence evaporated. They were just scared kids in the dark.

Leo's legs moved before his brain could process how bad an idea this was. He grabbed the flashlight, shone it toward the sound, and started making himself huge, waving his arms like a maniac. "HEY! GO AWAY!"

The bear—huge, definitely a bear, oh god he was confronting an actual bear—huffed, paused, and lumbered off in the other direction.

Nobody spoke for a full minute. Then Maya wrapped her arms around him. "You just saved us." The popular kids looked at him differently. Not like the weird spinach-drinking kid who couldn't hit a ball, but like someone who'd stared down danger and didn't blink.

"Maybe," Maya whispered later, when they were watching the stars, "you can teach me that spinach smoothie recipe. I need to be brave like you."

Leo grinned. Maybe being himself wasn't so terrible after all. Even the spinach parts.