Spinach Teeth and Second Chances

Maya stared at her reflection in the cafeteria mirror, fighting the urge to scream. Green stuff wedged between her front teeth like tiny emerald betrayals. Of course this would happen today, when Jay was finally going to sit at her table.

"You've got spinach, dude," whispered Chloe, sliding in beside her. "It's catastrophic."

Maya's face burned. The one day she'd tried to be healthy, attempted to adult- properly with an actual salad instead of her usual cafeteria pizza, and now she'd be forever remembered as the girl with the spinach smile. The girl who couldn't even talk to her crush without looking like she'd been grazing in a meadow.

"Thanks for the heads-up," she muttered, furiously brushing with her finger. "Real solid friendship work there."

"What are friends for?" Chloe grinned, then froze. "Oh my god, he's coming. He's literally walking over here. Abort mission, I repeat—"

Too late. Jay sat down, his lacrosse practice gear slung over one shoulder like he owned the place. His hair was still damp from the shower, and Maya's stomach did that annoying fluttery thing that made her feel twelve instead of sixteen.

"Hey," he said, glancing between them. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Maya squeaked. Then she caught Chloe's look and cleared her throat. "I mean. Hey. What's up with you?"

He laughed, and the sound did weird things to her heart rate. "Just finished bear camp with the team. Coach worked us so hard, I think I'm gonna expire."

"Bear camp?" Chloe asked, totally deadpan.

"Yeah. 'Grizzly mentality.' It's dumb, don't ask. But hey, you still coming to my game Friday?"

He was looking at Maya when he said it. Her brain short-circuited.

"Yeah," she managed. "I'll be there."

"Cool." He stood up, grabbed a chocolate milk from his bag, and headed toward the door. Then he paused and looked back. "By the way, you've got a little..." He gestured to his own teeth.

The entire cafeteria went silent.

Maya's life was over. This was it. She'd have to transfer schools. Maybe move to a different country. She could see the headline now: LOCAL TEEN'S SOCIAL LIFE DECEASED FROM SPINACH-RELATED INCIDENT.

But then Jay added, "Just kidding. You're good."

And he smiled this smile that was cute and dorky all at once, and Maya realized something important: sometimes the terrifying moments weren't actually disasters. Sometimes they were just moments.

"Okay," Chloe said after he'd left. "I retract my friendship statement. That was actually kind of adorable."

Maya touched her teeth. They were clean.

"Whatever," she said, but she was smiling too. "Whatever."