The Green Smoothie Incident

Maya's hair was supposed to be caramel highlights. Instead, it turned out the color of moldy pumpkin.

"It's called brassy," her best friend Riley said, grimacing. "But honestly? It's giving toxic waste spill."

Maya buried her face in her hands. The salon had charged her two weeks of babysitting money for this disaster. Now she had to face first period looking like a radioactive squash.

Her mom, unfortunately, was unhelpful. "You know what helps with stress? Vitamin B complex! And this spinach smoothie I made you!" She pressed a murky green glass into Maya's hands.

"Mom, I'm gonna be late."

"Just drink it! It's got kale and actual happiness in it!" (Her mom had been watching too many wellness influencers again.)

Maya grabbed the smoothie, resigned to her fate. At school, she tried to keep her head down, literally pulling her hood up. But then she saw him—Lucas, by the lockers, laughing with his friends. Her stomach did that thing where it forgot how to be an organ.

"Hey, Maya!" Lucas called. "Nice hood. You hiding from something?"

She panicked. "No! Just—cold?" It was seventy degrees outside. Smooth move, Maya.

He walked over, and her heart was hammering so hard she thought it might bruise her ribs. Then his expression shifted from confusion to horrified concern.

"You have..." He gestured at his own teeth.

Maya froze. The spinach. From the smoothie. It was probably wedged between her front teeth like a tiny green vegetable of doom.

"I gotta go." She speed-walked to the bathroom, her face burning so hot she could probably power a small city.

Riley found her there, aggressively brushing her teeth. "You okay?"

"My hair looks like a failed science experiment, Lucas definitely saw spinach in my teeth, and I think my soul just left my body."

Riley started laughing. "Okay, first of all, your hair is unique. Second, that spinach incident was legendary. And third?" She pulled a compact mirror from her bag. "There was nothing in your teeth. You were fine."

Maya stared at her reflection. The brassy orange hair was still there, bright and unmistakable. But her teeth were clean. Lucas had been—what? Confused? Trying to flirt?

"Wait." Maya's brain rebooted. "He was talking to me. For, like, two minutes."

"And he didn't run away screaming from your hair." Riley grinned. "I think he likes you, toxic waste vibe and all."

Maya looked at herself again. The hair wasn't great. But it wasn't hiding who she was anymore—messy, awkward, and apparently, visible.

"Fine." She grabbed her backpack. "But I'm never drinking a spinach smoothie again."