Sweaty Palms and Spinach Teeth

Maya's palms were sweating so much she might actually slide right off the kitchen counter. This was it—her first real high school house party, and she was currently hiding behind a bag of spinach dip while her best friend Chen disappeared into the crowd.

"You good?" Chen had asked before ditching her for some juniors. "Just vibe, Maya. You're overthinking it."

Easy for him to say. Chen had the social grace of a golden retriever puppy—everyone just naturally loved him. Maya, on the other hand, felt like she'd swallowed a whole bottle of vitamin B complex: jittery, slightly nauseous, and weirdly hyperaware of her own heartbeat.

She caught her reflection in the microwave door and froze. Oh no. Oh HELL no. A massive piece of spinach was wedged between her front teeth, visible from space, basically glowing with malicious intent. She'd been walking around with this for twenty minutes minimum. This was her villain origin story.

Maya grabbed a paper towel and started furiously scrubbing at her teeth.

"Whoa, intense dental hygiene routine?"

She spun around. There was Leo—Leo, who she'd been lowkey obsessed with since September—standing way too close, holding a red plastic cup. His dog, Barnaby, was somehow with him (because apparently this was a bring-your-own-pup kind of party?), and the golden retriever was now enthusiastically sniffing Maya's shoes.

"I, uh, had spinach," Maya managed. "In my teeth. Obviously."

Leo laughed, and it was genuinely nice, not mean. "Same. Last week? Talked to my crush for ten minutes with cilantro in my braces. Middle school trauma unlocked."

Barnaby chose that moment to sneeze directly on Maya's sneakers.

"Bro, what?" Leo winced. "Sorry, he's got zero chill. We're working on it."

"It's fine." Maya was shocked to find she actually meant it. The tension in her chest was loosening, her palms drying off. "So... you have a dog at a party?"

"Emotional support animal, my guy. My mom's idea. I think she just didn't want to leave him home alone." Leo gestured toward the living room, where someone had set up a literal goldfish bowl on a speaker. "That's Jordan's fish. He named him Chad. It's a whole thing."

Maya snorted. "Chad the goldfish? That's the most Jordan move ever."

"Right?" Leo's eyes crinkled. "Hey, you want to meet Chad? I promise he's way cooler than my dog's sneeze attack."

"Maya," she said, sliding off the counter. "I'm Maya. And yeah, let's go meet Chad."

As they walked toward the living room, Maya's palm brushed against Leo's. Not sweaty anymore. Just real. She caught Chen's eye across the room—he gave her a thumbs-up and a grin that said exactly what she was already thinking: maybe high school wasn't so scary after all.

And okay, maybe she'd had spinach in her teeth for twenty minutes. But at least she wasn't the only one.