Spinach Teeth Summer

The pool party at Jessica's house was supposed to be my social comeback after freshman year's epic fail. I stood by the snack table, trying to look casual while clutching a red Solo cup like it contained the secrets to popularity.

"Hey!" said Marcus, sliding up with his signature grin. "Jessica's **dog** keeps trying to steal the veggie platter. It's chaotic."

I laughed, but my brain was too busy analyzing everything. Was I standing weird? Was my hair doing that weird flippy thing?

Then I saw her—Taylor, the senior everyone called a total **fox**. She was magnetic, surrounded by people hanging on her every word. I'd been crushing on her from afar since biology class, watching her doodle anime characters in the margins while I pretended to understand mitosis.

My best friend Danny appeared beside me, splashing water everywhere. "Bro, you've been staring at Taylor all night. Just talk to her already."

"I can't just—" I started, but Danny was already pushing me toward her group. "Danny, NO!"

He abandoned me with an encouraging thumbs-up and zero actual support. Taylor's eyes locked onto mine. "Hey! You're in my bio class, right?"

"Yeah! I mean—" Smooth. So smooth. "What's up?"

She smiled. Everyone was watching. This was it. My moment.

"Not much," I said with what I thought was charming confidence. "Just hanging by the **pool**, living the dream."

Then someone in her group started laughing. Not the good kind. The what-is-that-on-your-face kind.

"You have—" Taylor pointed.

I sprinted to the bathroom mirror. There, nestled in my front teeth like a disaster: a massive chunk of **spinach** from the veggie platter. I'd been walking around with spinach teeth for twenty minutes. TWENTY. MINUTES.

I wanted to dissolve into the tile floor. But then Danny found me, eating chips like nothing had happened.

"Dude," he said. "Taylor asked for your Instagram. She thought it was hilarious."

"Hilarious bad or hilarious—"

"Hilarious you're actually chill about stuff. She said you're not fake like everyone else."

I looked in the mirror one more time and grabbed a toothbrush. Maybe my social comeback wasn't perfect. But somehow, the **friend** who humiliated me had also just made my entire year.