The Green Incident

Maya's first real pool party. The kind where everyone from school would be there, including Jordan—who'd finally noticed her existence in homeroom last week. She'd spent forty-five minutes on her hair, thirty picking the right swimsuit (not too revealing, not too grandma), and another ten hyperventilating in her bathroom mirror.

"You got this," her best friend Kai texted. "Just be chill. Be your vibe."

Her vibe, apparently, included discovering halfway through the party that she had a massive chunk of spinach stuck between her front teeth—from the spinach artichoke dip she'd nervously demolished like ten minutes after arriving.

She'd been running to the bathroom every five minutes to check, convinced everyone was staring at the green monstrosity in her smile. Each time, it seemed fine. Each time, she returned to the patio, certain she could feel imaginary judgment.

Jordan actually approached her by the pool's edge, all golden skin and effortless charm. "Hey, you're Maya, right? From English?"

She tried to say something cool. Something like "Yeah, what's up?" or "Totally." What came out was: "Yeah. From English. That's me. English."

Her brain, helpful as ever, decided that was the perfect moment to remember the spinach situation. Her hand flew to her mouth.

Jordan's eyebrows shot up. "You okay?"

"Fine," she squeaked. "Just... forgot something... inside..."

She turned to run—literally running—and tripped over the coaxial cable someone had stretched across the patio for the outdoor TV setup. Her phone flew out of her hand, did a perfect arc, and splash.

Right into the deep end.

The entire party went silent.

Jordan, because the universe had a sick sense of humor, was already diving in after it. He surfaced, dripping wet, holding her phone like it was some precious artifact. "Your phone," he said, grinning. "It's—a really good case. Should be fine."

Everyone was watching now. Some people giggling. Someone actually said "awkward."

Maya stood there, spinach-stained smile and all, and just started laughing. Not the fake laugh she'd been using all night. Real laughter.

"My phone," she said to Jordan. "Thanks. You're literally my hero."

He shrugged, water running down his face. "Anytime. Also, for the record? You didn't have spinach in your teeth. I checked before I came over."

She blinked. "You... checked?"

"Wanted to make sure you had nothing to worry about," he said, and the way he said it made something warm and fizzy explode in her chest.

Later, Kai would text: "TOLD you your vibe would work out." And Maya would respond: "My vibe is a disaster and I love it."