The Spinach Incident

Maya was literally running for her life—not because zombies were chasing her (though that would've been less embarrassing), but because Jason, aka her former best friend since kindergarten, had just posted a TikTok of her with spinach stuck in her teeth.

Her iPhone buzzed in her pocket like crazy. Notifications blowing up: @jasonwissel tagged you in a video, @katie_mae commented lol, @sarah.j replied 'dead 💀'. Maya's hands shook as she stared at the screen in the girls' bathroom mirror. The caption read: When your bestie thinks she's healthy but she's just a rabbit.

They'd been at lunch, and Maya had finally tried one of those stupid spinach wraps from the cafeteria because Jason said they were 'a whole vibe.' He'd been filming the whole time, laughing at his own jokes. She thought they were vibing. Turns out, she was just content.

Maya washed her hands, avoiding her reflection. The worst part wasn't the spinach. It was that Jason had been acting weird all month—distant, dismissive, always on his phone. Now she knew why. Clout chasing.

Her track coach yelled at her to finish her lap when she got back to practice, but Maya couldn't focus. Her legs felt heavy. Everything felt heavy.

'Sup,' said Zara, the new girl from London, jogging beside her. 'You look dead. You good?' 'Not really,' Maya muttered. 'Long story.'

Zara nodded. 'Friend drama? My ex-bestie posted my private texts on her story last term. I feel that.' They ran in silence for a minute, just breathing. Then Zara said, 'Hey, wanna hang after practice? My mum made samosas.'

Maya's iPhone buzzed again—more notifications, more comments. She turned it off without looking. 'Yeah,' she said, picking up speed. 'I'd love that.'

For the first time all day, she wasn't running away.