Spinach Teeth & Summer Lies

Jamie's shift at the country club pool was supposed to be chill—just scrolling through Instagram during her break, maybe finally texting back Tyler. But then she saw it: a photo on her iPhone feed of her and Tyler from last night's party, captioned "my favorite person 💕" posted by someone she'd never met.

The comments were brutal. "LMAO who is this," "definitely not his girlfriend," "wait isn't he with Sarah??"

Jamie's stomach dropped. Sarah had been feeding her bull for weeks—"Tyler's so into you," "he's just shy," "I'm totally helping, I'm such a good friend." Meanwhile, Sarah was posting pics with Tyler, arm around his waist, looking like the actual favorite person.

"You okay?" asked Miguel, the pool's snack guy. He slid over a bowl of spinach artichoke dip. "You look like you're about to cry."

Jamie blinked. Was she that obvious? "I'm fine. Just... stupid drama."

"Drama at the country club pool? Say it ain't so." Miguel grinned. "Try this dip. My mom's recipe. It'll make everything better."

Jamie took a bite, and honestly? It kinda did. The spinach dip was actually fire. Miguel's phone buzzed—his old cracked iPhone, not the fancy new model everyone else had. He checked it and sighed. "My abuela needs help with her garden again. There's this huge bull in the neighborhood that keeps getting out. She's scared of it."

"A literal bull?" Jamie asked. "Like, the animal?"

"Yeah. He's actually chill though. Just wants to eat her spinach plants. She's mad about the spinach but I keep telling her, let the bull live his best life."

Jamie laughed—a real laugh, for the first time all day. "Your life is so random."

"Isn't everyone's?" Miguel looked at her, suddenly serious. "You know, Sarah's been telling everyone Tyler's obsessed with her. Like, literally bragging about it yesterday at the pool. I didn't say anything because I figured you'd find out eventually."

Jamie sat there with spinach dip on her lip, realizing she'd been so focused on the fake story Sarah sold her that she hadn't noticed what was actually happening. Or that Miguel, the random snack guy who made bomb spinach dip and helped his abuela chase bulls out of her garden, was the kind of person who actually told the truth.

"Hey," she said, wiping her mouth. "Does that bull have a name?"

Miguel smiled. "Ferdinand. Obviously."