Spinach Zombie Strikeout

Marcus dragged himself through the cafeteria line feeling like the walking dead. Three hours of Call of Duty last night. Two hours of baseball practice this morning. Zero hours of sleep. Total zombie mode.

"You look rough, bro," Tyler said, sliding into the seat across from him. "Varsity tryouts today?"

Marcus nodded slowly, his brain barely functioning. He grabbed a tray and stared at the lunch lady's scoop of green mush. Spinach. Again. His braces were already giving him enough drama without adding leafy greens to the mix.

Whatever. He was too tired to care.

He shoved a forkful in his mouth, still half-asleep, when he saw her. Chloe. The girl who'd been in his English class since September. The one he'd been lowkey crushing on since she'd laughed at his terrible presentation on To Kill a Mockingbird.

She was walking right toward his table.

Marcus's brain went into full panic mode. Should he smile? Wave? Pretend he didn't see her? Before he could decide, she was already there.

"Hey Marcus!" she said, smiling. "Good luck at baseball tryouts today. I'll be watching."

He tried to say something cool. Something smooth. Instead, what came out was: "Mmph grrph"

Chloe's eyes went wide. She covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. "Um, you have a little..."

Marcus bolted to the bathroom, mirror revealing the horror: a massive chunk of spinach wedged perfectly in his braces, bright green against his teeth. He looked ridiculous. He wanted to disappear.

But then he heard Tyler's voice behind him. "Bro, it happens. Everyone gets food in their braces at least once. It's basically a rite of passage."

Marcus looked at his reflection—zombie dark circles, spinach disaster, and all. And for the first time all day, he actually laughed.

"Thanks, man," Marcus said, scraping out the spinach. "You're right. Better to be the spinach guy than the guy who didn't try at all."

That afternoon at tryouts, Marcus didn't make varsity. But when Chloe found him afterward and asked how it went, he told her everything—the spinach, the embarrassment, the whole disaster.

She laughed. "That's actually kind of adorable."

Maybe being a zombie with spinach in his teeth wasn't the worst thing in the world. Sometimes the messiest moments were the ones that actually mattered.