The Green Between My Teeth

Jordan's life was officially over. At least, that's how it felt when she caught her reflection in the classroom window—a massive, obvious piece of **spinach** wedged between her front teeth. She'd spent the entire morning talking to Lucas, the cute junior she'd been lowkey crushing on since September, with a literal salad decorating her smile.

Her face burned. Why hadn't anyone said anything? Didn't her best friend Chloe, who was literally sitting right beside her in homeroom, have the basic human decency to save her from this level of embarrassment?

Jordan yanked out her **iPhone**, tilting it to get a better angle. Yep. There it was. Bright green. Extremely visible. She wanted to dissolve into the floor. This was it. This was her villain origin story. She'd be known as Spinach Girl forever. Lucas would never look at her the same way again.

But then—like **lightning** striking—something weird happened. Lucas walked over, grinning, and pointed at his own teeth.

"I've had pepper in my teeth all morning," he whispered, like they were co-conspirators in some grand embarrassment scheme. "Your spinach is way more obvious, though. Props for commitment."

Jordan blinked. Then she laughed. Actually laughed.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.

"I don't know," Lucas admitted. "I thought maybe you knew. Like, maybe it was a thing."

"A thing?"

"Yeah, like, confidence? You were walking around like you owned the place. I was kinda impressed."

Jordan stared at him. All morning, she'd been agonizing over how she looked, what she said, whether she was being cool enough. Meanwhile, Lucas had been admiring her (totally accidental) confidence. The spinach wasn't the disaster she'd made it out to be. The disaster was in her head.

She grinned, spinach and all. Sometimes the most embarrassing moments aren't the end of the world. Sometimes they're just the beginning of something real.