The Spinach Incident

Leo's been **running** from his feelings for Maya since October, which honestly tracks — his emotional maturity peaked in seventh grade. But today, in the cafeteria, everything changes.

Maya sits at her usual table, laughing with her friends, her eyes doing that crinkle thing that makes Leo's stomach feel like he swallowed a swarm of butterflies. He's finally going to talk to her. His boy Jeremy gave him this whole pep talk this morning: "Just be chill, bro. You got this. Worst case, she says no and you die alone."

Thanks, Jeremy. Real helpful.

Leo grabs his tray — today's lunch looks like something that died in a forest fire — and scans for an empty seat. There's one. Next to Maya. He's actually doing this. He's walking over there, his palms sweating like he's about to defuse a bomb.

But then Jeremy, being the chaotic human that he is, decides to "help" by calling out across the cafeteria: "Yo Leo! You got **spinach** in your teeth, fam!"

The entire lunch period goes dead silent. Leo freezes. He does NOT have spinach in his teeth. He hasn't even eaten anything green today. Jeremy is messing with him, and now everyone's staring, including Maya.

She turns. Looks directly at him. And then — because the universe hates him — she starts laughing. Not mean laughing, but actual amusement. Her shoulders shake. Leo's face feels like it's caught on fire.

"That was messed up," she says, sliding her tray down. "Sit down. Unless you're gonna keep that spinach as a fashion statement."

Leo sits. His brain has officially left the chat.

They talk for twenty minutes about nothing and everything — her **goldfish** that died three times but somehow keeps coming back to life, how she's failing mythology because she can't remember what a **sphinx** actually does, how her parents are weirdly obsessed with old-school **cable** TV even though streaming exists.

"You're actually kind of funny," she says when the bell rings.

Leo's heart does this full sprint thing in his chest. "I get that sometimes."

"We should hang out," she says, like it's nothing. Like she didn't just unknowingly fix his entire life.

"Yeah," Leo manages. "That would be... yeah."

He walks to his next class floating three inches off the ground. Jeremy catches up to him, grinning like he personally invented happiness. "See? I told you I got you. You're welcome."

Leo doesn't even argue. Some days, he figures, you just gotta take the W — even if it starts with spinach that wasn't even there.