Spinachgate and Other Disasters

Maya's cat, Professor Paws, sat on her bed judging her as she Applied her third layer of lip gloss. The Padel tournament at Riverside Country Club was basically the social event of the semester, and she'd somehow landed herself on Jordan Reed's team. Jordan Reed. Who had dimples. Who hadliked her Instagram post yesterday.

"You have zero chill," Maya told the cat, who yawned in response.

Her iPhone buzzed. Group chat blowing up about the tournament. Maya checked her reflection one more time—hair wavy but not trying too hard, outfit cute but casual. She grabbed her racquet and headed out, feeling weirdly like a spy reconning for a mission. Everyone at school knew Jordan was Basically Off Limits after the whole thing with Alexis, but here she was, about to spend three hours on the same Padel court.

The club was exactly the kind of bougie nightmare Maya's parents always complained about. She found Jordan already there, stretching in the most unfairly attractive way possible. His smile when he saw her actually reached his eyes.

"Ready to crush it?" he asked.

"So ready," Maya lied. She'd played Padel exactly twice in her life, both times in PE.

They were up against these twins from the neighboring school who definitely played club Padel or whatever, and Maya spent most of the match missing everything and making excuses about "off days." But Jordan didn't even care. He kept high-fiving her and laughing at her terrible jokes and looking at her like she was actually interesting.

After they lost (badly), Jordan suggested they grab smoothies. They sat on a bench outside, the conversation flowing easy and real. Maya forgot to be nervous, forgot to overthink every little thing. She was just... having fun. With Jordan Reed.

"You have something in your teeth," Jordan said suddenly, mid-story.

Maya's stomach dropped. She pulled out her phone, opened the camera, and there it was: a giant piece of spinach from lunch, wedged between her front teeth like a green flag of embarrassment. She'd been talking to Jordan for TWO HOURS with spinach in her teeth.

"That's it," she groaned. "I'm moving to Antarctica. Change my name. Start over."

Jordan started laughing, but not in a mean way. His eyes crinkled up and he had to cover his mouth with his hand. "Maya, chill. I literally have smoothie on my chin."

She looked. He did.

They sat there laughing until their stomachs hurt, and Maya realized something: the real disaster wasn't the spinach. It was that she'd spent so much time worrying about being perfect that she'd forgotten how to just be herself. Jordan liked her. The real, spinach-toothed, bad-at-padel version.

Professor Paws was waiting by the window when she got home. Maya picked him up, burying her face in his soft fur. Her phone buzzed—a message from Jordan. "Same time next week? You can teach me how not to lose at everything."

Maya grinned, the spinach incident officially upgraded from catastrophe to origin story. Some plots were just too good to waste.