The Spinach Prophecy

The cafeteria social pyramid placed Maya somewhere between the theater kids and the AV club, which honestly wasn't terrible. Until the spinach incident.

She'd been crushing on Jason since sophomore year—his hair was always perfect, he never seemed to sweat, and he had this mysterious, sphinx-like quality where you couldn't tell what he was thinking. Today, she'd finally worked up the courage to sit at his lunch table.

"Hey," she said, sliding into the seat across from him. "Mind if I crash here?"

Jason looked up from his phone, half-smiling. "Sure, Maya's cool."

VICTORY. Her brain did three consecutive cartwheels.

"What's that on your tooth?" asked Sarah, Jason's ex-girlfriend and current queen of the school hierarchy.

Maya froze. She touched her front tooth. A massive, emerald-green chunk of spinach from her salad was practically waving hello.

"Oh my GOD," she whisper-screamed, grabbing her water bottle and practically drowning herself in three gulps.

"It's fine," Jason said, but he was definitely looking at the spinach, not her eyes. "Happens to everyone."

No. No it did not happen to everyone. It happened to people who were currently experiencing their worst moment in high school.

"I have to go," Maya mumbled, standing up so fast she knocked over a chair. "Sorry."

She speed-walked to the bathroom, hiding in a stall until she heard the bell. This was it. Her reputation was dead. She'd go down in history as Spinach Girl.

"Maya?"

She unlocked the stall door. Jason was standing there, leaning against the sinks like this was normal. He held out his hand—a small, folded note.

"I was gonna ask you if you wanted to study for the mythology test together," he said, shrugging. "The sphinx riddle stuff is confusing me."

Maya stared at him. "You're asking me to study? After the spinach?"

"Honestly?" He rubbed his neck, suddenly looking human. "I thought it was kinda cool you ate actual salad. Most girls just pick at fries. Plus, you handled it way better than I would've."

He pointed at his own teeth. "Last week? I had a piece of broccoli in my braces during my presentation. Had to BEAR that humiliation for four periods."

Maya started laughing. She couldn't help it.

"So?" Jason asked. "Study session? My house? I promise there's no spinach."

"I'm in," she said.

Sometimes the universe had a weird way of working things out. Even if it started with a vegetable in your teeth.