The Pool Party Incident

My hair was perfect. Or at least, it had been perfect before I jumped into the pool.

"Dude, you coming?" Tyler yelled from the deep end, splashing water everywhere like an overexcited golden retriever.

I wiped my dripping face and adjusted mySnapback. "Yeah, yeah."

But the truth was, I wasn't really there for the swimming. I was there for Maya, who was currently laughing at something Tyler said from her perfect perch on a pool float. I'd spent forty-five minutes styling my curls this morning, and now they were probably doing some weird triangle thing on my forehead.

Great start, really.

"Hey!" Someone tossed me a baseball from across the yard. "Catch!"

It was Jordan, pointing at the makeshift setup they'd rigged up near the fence. Everyone was watching. Especially Maya.

I palmed the ball, feeling momentarily cool. Baseball was my thing. I'd been playing since I was seven, and my fastball had gotten me out of plenty of awkward situations. This was my chance to shine.

"Incoming!" I wound up and threw—it felt good, solid, perfect...

Until it hit Jordan directly in the forehead.

The entire pool area went silent. Then everyone started laughing. Including Jordan. Including Maya.

I trudged back toward the snack table, needing something, anything to make me feel less like a complete failure. My face burned hotter than the July sun. I grabbed a veggie wrap and took a massive bite, chewing aggressively.

"So," Maya appeared beside me, water dripping from her swimsuit straps. "That was... pretty memorable."

I almost choked on my wrap. "Yeah, well. I was aiming for his mitt, not his face."

She laughed, and it sounded like wind chimes and everything else cheesy and perfect. "You've got a little—" She pointed to her front teeth.

I froze. Please no. Anything but this.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. When I pulled it away, there it was. A giant, fluorescent piece of spinach, perfectly wedged between my two front teeth like it was posing for a photoshoot.

Spinach. From the stupid veggie wrap.

Maya was still smiling, but now her eyes had that look—that crinkly, trying-not-to-laugh-harder look.

"Well," she said, grabbing a paper towel, "at least you can't say today has been boring."

Her fingers brushed mine as she handed it over, and suddenly the spinach incident didn't matter so much. Neither did the failed baseball throw or my messed-up hair or the fact that I was the only one not swimming.

Because Maya was still standing there, talking to me, and that had to count for something, right?

"Worse things have happened," I mumbled, scraping at my teeth.

"Oh yeah?" She raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

I thought for a second. "Like last week when I tripped over nothing in the cafeteria and dropped my tray everywhere."

Maya's smile widened. "That was you? I heard about that! Everyone was talking about it."

"Great. Just great."

"No, seriously—they said you handled it like a champ. Didn't even cry." She splashed some water at me. "You're okay, new kid."

New kid. She knew my name. She remembered I was new.

I smiled back, spinach finally gone. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I am."