The Spinach Incident

Maya stared at the food pyramid poster in her health class, feeling her stomach do backflips. Mr. Henderson was going on about balanced diets, but all she could think about was the disaster waiting to happen in exactly twenty minutes.

"You need your leafy greens," Mr. Henderson droned on. "Spinach builds strong bodies."

Easier said than done when you were the new girl at Roosevelt High and somehow managed to sign up for the cafeteria staff position. Now she had to serve the mystery meat spinach that everyone called "swamp sludge."

The bell rang. Maya's first real shift.

The cafeteria line formed fast. She tried to look confident, doling out the green stuff like she'd been doing it forever. Then Jason walked through the line. Junior class president. Basketball star. The guy who'd actually spoken to her in homeroom yesterday.

"What's this stuff?" Jason asked, gesturing at the spinach.

"Fresh from the garden," Maya said, maybe a little too defensively. "Mr. Henderson says it's brain food."

Jason laughed. Not making fun of her—genuinely laughing. "You're new here, right? I'm Jason."

"Maya."

"Nice to meet you, Maya. Hey, you should come to the game Friday. We're playing the Bulls."

"The Bulls?"

"Our rival school. Their mascot is literally a bull. It's weird, but whatever."

Someone behind Jason cleared their throat dramatically. "Aww, how cute. Jason's flirting with the spinach girl."

Taylor. Captain of the cheerleading squad. The girl who sat at the top of the school's social pyramid, apparently.

Jason didn't even turn around. "Don't be a jerk, Taylor. Maya's cool."

Taylor's face went red. Like, actually red.

Maya felt something shift inside her. Like maybe, just maybe, high school wouldn't be completely terrible. She served Jason an extra spoonful of spinach.

"On the house," she said.

He grinned. "Thanks, Spinach Girl. See you Friday."

As he walked away, Maya caught Taylor glaring at her. But for the first time all week, she didn't look away. She'd survived the spinach incident. She might even survive Roosevelt High.