Spinach Teeth & Chlorine Dreams

The pool party of the year. That's what Maya's Instagram story called it. Meanwhile, I was stuck at home with my brother's dog—a Golden Retriever named Max who had somehow gotten into my mom's garden and was now happily munching on the spinach plants like they were gourmet treats.

"Max! NO!" I yelled, dragging him away by his collar. Green drool dripped from his jowls. Great. Now I had to wash the dog AND myself before I could even think about showing up at Maya's.

By the time I got to the party, fashionably late but stressfully disheveled, everyone was already in the pool. Maya's crush from the swim team was there, looking annoyingly perfect. I'd been crushing on him since September, but he barely knew I existed. I was just the girl who sat behind him in history and occasionally got answers wrong on pop quizzes.

I stood awkwardly by the snack table, pretending to be fascinated by a bag of chips. My plan: avoid swimming at all costs. I hadn't been in a pool since the traumatic swimming unit in gym freshman year, when I'd somehow managed to get my swim suit caught on the ladder during a casual race. The nickname "Mermaid Fail" had haunted me for months.

"Hey, you gonna swim or just stand there looking cute?"

I jumped. It was Maya's swim team crush. WHAT. He was talking to me?

"I'm good," I managed, my voice cracking slightly. Smooth.

"Your brother's dog tried to eat my spinach smoothie earlier," he said, grinning. "Thought you should know."

I stared at him. Then I noticed a tiny green speck stuck between my front teeth. SPINACH. From where I'd been rushing earlier and grabbed a quick smoothie. I'd been walking around with spinach in my teeth while TALKING TO MY CRUSH.

"I—"

"It's actually kinda adorable," he said, and his cheeks turned pink. "Do you want to go swimming? I promise not to let you drown."

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Even with spinach teeth and a dog who ate vegetables, maybe I could survive being fifteen.