The Spinach Incident

Maya pressed her back against the cafeteria wall, heart hammering. She was basically a professional spy at this point — three weeks of watching Jordan sit with his friends without ever making actual eye contact. Pathetic? Maybe. But this was high school, where dignity was optional and survival was everything.

"You're doing it again," said Lena, appearing beside her with a tray of questionable-looking mystery meat. "The creepy stare thing. It's giving major stalker vibes."

"I'm not stalking!" Maya hissed. "I'm... observing. There's a difference."

"Sure, Sherlock. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Lena popped a forkful of something green into her mouth. "By the way, you've got—" She gestured at her own teeth.

Maya's stomach dropped. She grabbed her phone and flipped to camera mode. Sure enough, a massive piece of spinach was wedged between her front teeth, glowing like a neon sign announcing her social death.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I tried! You were too busy being FBI: cafeteria division." Lena paused. "Wait, isn't that Jordan's dog?"

Maya followed her gaze. A golden retriever was trotting through the lunch line like it owned the place, targeting a freshman's abandoned backpack.

"That's Buster," Jordan said, suddenly appearing beside them. He was even cuter up close, with messy dark hair and a gray sweatshirt that had definitely seen better days. "He escapes constantly. My dad's gonna kill me."

Before Maya could process that Jordan was speaking to her, the dog had zeroed in on Lena's tray and inhaled her entire lunch in one professional move.

"Buster, no!" Jordan lunged, but the dog was already gone, trailing bits of spinach and mystery meat like confetti.

Lena stared at her empty tray. "Did his dog just eat my lunch?"

"I'll buy you pizza," Jordan told her, then turned to Maya. "You're in my English class, right? The one with Mr. Henderson's dinosaur assignments?"

"Yeah," Maya managed, careful not to smile too wide. Spinach crisis averted, but now her heart was doing something else entirely. Something worse.

"Cool." He gave a little wave. "See you around. And sorry again about—" He gestured at the dog-shaped hole in the room.

Maya watched him go, Lena cackling beside her.

"What?" Maya demanded.

"Oh nothing." Lena grinned. "Just that you've been 'observing' him for weeks and he finally notices you because his dog committed grand theft lunch." She paused. "Also? You still have spinach in your teeth."

Maya groaned. High school was going to be the death of her.