The Green Gap

Maya's phone buzzed on her bed. New text from Jaz.

"U coming? Everyone's at Derek's."

Maya groaned into her pillow. She couldn't. Not with the brace-face situation. Freshman year had already been rough enough—now she had these railroad tracks across her teeth, and she'd managed to get a massive piece of spinach stuck in them during lunch. Noah, the sophomore she'd been crushing on for months, had definitely noticed. He'd done that thing where he tried not to laugh but kinda did.

She texted back: "Can't. Busy."

"U always busy now 🙄"

Maya tossed her phone down. Jaz was her best friend since fourth grade, but lately everything felt weird. Jaz had grown five inches over the summer and somehow emerged with perfect skin and the kind of confidence that made people gravitate toward her like she was giving off some kind of magical vitamin that Maya definitely hadn't gotten.

Her mom appeared in the doorway. "You okay? You've been in your room all weekend."

"Fine. Just tired."

"You know," her mom said, leaning against the doorframe, "when I was your age, I went through this phase where I wouldn't leave the house for weeks because I thought my forehead was too big."

Maya sat up. "Seriously?"

"Your grandma literally had to drag me to the spring formal. I cried the whole way there." Her mom shrugged. "Turned out nobody cared except me."

Maya thought about Jaz, about how Jaz never seemed to worry about anything anymore. But then she remembered last month when Jaz had confided that she was scared of driving, and how she'd been staying late after school to avoid going home because her parents were fighting. Some friend Maya was being—assuming Jaz had it all together just because she looked like she did.

She grabbed her phone and texted Jaz: "Actually want company? I can come over."

"YES finally. Bring snacks."

Maya checked her teeth in the mirror three times. No spinach. She was still self-conscious about the braces, yeah, but she grabbed her hoodie and headed out anyway. Some things were worse than having metal in your mouth. Like missing out on life because you were too busy hiding from it.