Spinach-Stained Summer

Maya checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror for the tenth time. The green smoothie her wellness-obsessed bestie had swore would give her that 'summer glow' was currently wedged between her front teeth.

"Great. Just great," she muttered, scraping at the stubborn **spinach** with her fingernail.

Tonight was Jake Anderson's pool party. THE Jake Anderson, who'd sat behind her in bio since September and whose smile made her brain turn to static. Maya had spent two weeks hyping herself up, sliding into his DMs with casual replies, watching his Instagram stories like they were classified intel.

Her phone buzzed. It was her neighbor: Mittens had escaped again.

"You've got to be kidding me." Maya groaned. Mrs. Chen's demon **cat** had already ruined her favorite hoodie with its claws. Now this?

She spotted the orange furball darting toward Jake's house two doors down, its jingle bell giving it away like a tiny traitor. Maya sprinted after it, her flip-flops smacking against the pavement, lungs already burning.

The cat bolted straight through the Andersons' open gate and toward the **water**.

Maya froze. The pool area was packed—Jake's entire friend group, all those effortlessly cool people whose lives seemed like one continuous TikTok. Someone had started a game of chicken fight. Laughter rippled across the deck.

Mittens sat on the diving board, tail twitching, looking unfairly pleased with itself.

"YO, is that a cat?" someone shouted.

Maya's face burned. She could just walk away. Pretend she'd never seen the cat. Let someone else deal with it.

But Jake was already standing up, waist-deep in the pool, water droplets running down his chest. "You need help?"

His eyes locked onto hers.

Every instinct screamed at Maya to turn and run. Instead, she stepped forward, the spinach still absolutely stuck in her teeth, her heart hammering like she'd just finished a cross-country race.

"Yeah. That's... that's my neighbor's cat. He's kind of a disaster."

Jake's laugh crinkled the corners of his eyes. "No worries. I got you."

He waded toward the diving board while Maya stood there, feeling like she might either throw up or spontaneously combust, and maybe that was okay. Maybe embarrassing herself was just part of the deal.

Later, as Jake helped her wrangle the unholy feline back to Mrs. Chen's house, he paused at her front door.

"You have something in your teeth," he said, grinning. "Just so you know."

Maya closed her eyes. "How long?"

"Since you walked in."

She couldn't help it—she started laughing. And Jake laughed with her, and somewhere in that ridiculous, spinach-filled moment, Maya felt something shift.

"Wanna hang out tomorrow?" Jake asked. "I promise no cats."

"Deal." Maya smiled, green particles be damned. "But I'm never drinking a smoothie again."