Spinach Teeth & First Dates

Maya's palms were sweating so much she could practically water plants with them. She stared at her reflection, tugging at her newly dyed orange hair—which was supposed to be sunset copper, according to the box, but somehow ended up looking more like a traffic cone that fell in a bucket of Kool-Aid.

"You look fine," Tasha said from where she sprawled across Maya's bed, scrolling through TikTok. "Honestly, it's giving punk energy. Embrace the chaos."

Easy for her to say. Tasha hadn't accidentally agreed to go to the fall dance with Jordan, the cute sophomore who'd been shooting her heart eyes across the cafeteria since September. Maya had meant to say "maybe" or "let me check my schedule" or literally anything that wasn't an immediate "YES, ABSOLUTELY, 100%" when Jordan asked her yesterday.

Now here she was, three hours before Jordan was supposed to pick her up, hyperventilating over her hair and her outfit and whether she knew how to dance or if she'd just stand there awkwardly while everyone else did whatever TikTok dance was trending this week.

Tasha sat up suddenly. "Okay, serious question. What's the plan for dinner? You cannot go to a dance on an empty stomach—you'll get hangry, and it'll be a whole situation."

Maya shrugged. "Jordan said something about getting food after? I'm not worried about it."

"You're not worried about it?" Tasha raised an eyebrow. "Girl, when's the last time you ate today?"

"Breakfast? I think?"

"Okay, no, we're fixing this right now." Tasha grabbed her phone. "I'm ordering spinach artichoke dip from that place you like. Don't argue with me."

Maya didn't argue. Mostly because she was suddenly aware that she was starving, and also because Tasha was already ordering.

Twenty minutes later, they were sitting on the floor of Maya's bedroom, sharing spinach artichoke dip with pita chips while Tasha did Maya's makeup. Maya felt her nerves settling, the food and her best friend's presence grounding her.

"You're gonna have fun," Tasha said, applying mascara carefully. "Even if your hair is orange and you're terrified of dancing and Jordan hasn't texted you back to confirm what time they're picking you up."

Wait, what?

Maya's stomach dropped. "Jordan hasn't texted?"

"I mean—" Tasha checked her own phone "—oh, never mind, there it is. They said they're running ten minutes late. Everything's fine. See? Chill."

Maya exhaled. Her palms were still sweaty, her hair was still orange, and she was still nervous about the dancing, but somehow, everything was going to be okay. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.

"Hey Tash?" Maya said as her friend packed up her makeup bag. "Thanks for being the best."

Tasha grinned. "Best friends ride together. Besides, someone needed to make sure you didn't go to this dance with spinach in your teeth."

Maya laughed, and for the first time all day, her nerves felt manageable. The orange hair wasn't so bad. The sweaty palms were normal. And whatever happened tonight? She'd handle it.

Probably.