The Spinach Files

The cafeteria spinach sat there like radioactive sludge, but Maya forced down a bite anyway. Anything to avoid looking at her phone.

"You're not gonna believe what I heard," Jessica whispered, sliding into the seat across from her. "About Tyler."

Maya's stomach did that thing—half flip, half drop. Tyler, the cute junior who'd actually liked her Instagram story last night. This was it.

But then she saw it. A tiny piece of green spinach stuck in Jessica's front teeth.

"Spit it out," Maya said, staring.

"What? No! So apparently—"

"The spinach, Jess. It's been there since lunch yesterday."

Jessica's face turned the color of cafeteria pizza sauce. She frantically dug at her teeth with her fingernail.

"You're the worst friend ever," she muttered, but she was smiling.

Friend. The word hit Maya wrong. Because here's the thing: yesterday she'd seen Jessica's phone screen when they were walking to 4th period. An open notes app. A whole list of stuff about Maya—what she'd said about Tyler, how she'd cried over that B- on her history project, even that thing about her parents fighting last month.

Jessica had been taking notes. Like she was some kind of spy. Like Maya was a case file.

"So?" Jessica said, spinach finally gone. "You gonna ask me what I heard or what?"

Maya looked at her best friend since seventh grade and felt everything tilting sideways. "What did you hear?"

"Tyler was talking to Sam at practice." Jessica leaned in, eyes bright. "Sam told me Tyler said you're 'actually chill.' Not just 'hot' but 'chill.' That's huge, Maya."

And Maya almost believed her. Almost.

But then she remembered something else. Sam was Tyler's cousin. And Jessica had been hanging out with Sam's group a lot lately. Too much, maybe.

"That's... amazing," Maya said, her voice weirdly flat.

"Right?!" Jessica pulled her phone out. "I'm texting him right now. I mean, Sam. To see if Tyler's gonna—"

"You're texting Sam about Tyler?" The words came out sharp.

Jessica froze. "What? Yeah. That's what friends do. We help each other."

The bell rang.

Maya stood up, grabbing her tray. She'd planned to say it. To call her out. Are you spying on me? Are you reporting back to Sam? Is everything I tell you just content for your little investigations?

Instead she said: "Your hat's on backwards."

It wasn't.

Jessica reached up anyway, confused. "What? No it's not—"

But Maya was already walking away, heart hammering in her chest like she'd just outrun something that was finally catching up to her.

Some bulls charge at you head-on. The ones you see coming. It's the ones you don't see until you're already in the ring that wreck you.