The Spinach Incident

Maya's hair was supposed to be caramel highlights. Instead, it was orange. Like, traffic-cone-orange.

"It's a lived-in look," the stylist at Budget Cuts had said with a tight smile.

"It looks like a highlighter exploded on my head," Maya had muttered, paying forty dollars she'd spent all summer saving up from dog-walking Mrs. Chen's pug.

Now she sat at lunch with chunky highlights and zero confidence, watching Jake laugh across the cafeteria. He had nice hair. Normal-colored hair. Hair that didn't look like a mistake.

"You're staring again," Keisha said, sliding onto the bench. "Just talk to him, oh my god. He's in our history class, not the NBA."

"I can't." Maya poked at her salad. "Have you seen my hair? It looks like I lost a bet."

"It's not that bad."

"Keisha. It's orange."

"Fine, it's bold." Keisha shrugged. "Anyway, he keeps looking over here."

Maya's stomach did that thing where it felt like it was trying to escape through her throat. "Really?"

"No. But that's what I'd say if I was a good friend."

Maya sighed. Whatever. She was over it. She was new Maya, bold-hair Maya, confident Maya who didn't care what people thought. She took a massive bite of spinach salad and

oh no.

The spinach. It was everywhere. In her teeth. Probably on her face. She felt like she'd just announced her crush to the entire cafeteria while wearing a sign that said JUDGE ME.

And then Jake was walking over. Actually walking over. Walking toward her.

Maya's brain short-circuited. She couldn't speak. She couldn't smile. She literally had spinach in her teeth and orange hair and this was fine, everything was fine, she was calm.

"Hey," Jake said.

"Hey," Maya squeaked.

"Your dog got out again."

"What?"

"Mrs. Chen's dog? The pug?" Jake pulled out his phone. "I have a picture. My little sister sent it to me. She found him wandering near the park."

The photo showed Frank the pug wearing a tiny sweater, looking extremely pleased with himself.

"Oh my god," Maya said. "I'm supposed to walk him at three."

"Yeah, I figured." Jake looked at Maya, really looked at her. "I like your hair, by the way. It's different."

"It's orange."

"Yeah." He smiled. "It's cool."

"Also," Keisha piped up, "she has spinach in her teeth."

Maya was going to murder her. She was actually going to do it.

Jake laughed. Not mean-laughed. Actually laughed. "You have some right there." He gestured to his own teeth.

Maya wiped her mouth. "Thanks. That's humiliating."

"You'd be surprised how often it happens." He handed her a napkin. "Want help catching Frank? My sister's keeping him at our house."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah." Jake shrugged. "I mean, if you're cool with me kidnapping you from lunch."

Maya looked at Keisha, who was vibrating with excitement.

"I'm cool with that," Maya said.

And somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought: okay, orange hair wasn't so bad. Actually, maybe it was perfect. Maybe it was exactly the kind of thing that made someone notice you. Someone you'd been waiting to notice you forever.

"Cool," Jake said. "Let's go get your dog."