The Spinach Sphinx

The spinach was stuck between my teeth. I could feel it like a neon sign flashing 'LOOK AT ME' while I leaned against the pool fence, desperately trying to look casual.

"You're literally **running** in circles," Maya said, sliding up beside me with that effortless cool she'd had since seventh grade. "Just talk to him already."

I groaned. Tyler was across the **pool**, laughing with his friends, water dripping from his hair like he was in a shampoo commercial. This was supposed to be the summer I finally made my move, but instead I was just the girl who'd somehow managed to get spinach in her teeth at the start-of-summer pool party.

"I can't. He'll see it and then I'll die."

Maya rolled her eyes so hard I worried they'd get stuck. "You're being dramatic. Go swish some water around like a **goldfish** and get over yourself."

I laughed despite myself. Maya had this way of cutting through my overthinking with surgical precision.

That's when I noticed the new guy standing near the diving board. He was wearing a shirt with an Egyptian **sphinx** on it, looking as out of place as I felt. Something about the way he stood there, watching everyone like he was analyzing social dynamics for a science project, made me forget about my spinach-induced panic.

"Who's that?"

"Leo?" Maya shrugged. "Moved here last week. Quiet."

I found myself walking over before I could talk myself out of it. The sphinx shirt was honestly kind of iconic.

"Cool shirt," I said, mentally cringing at how basic I sounded.

He looked up, surprised. Then his eyes dropped to my smile and I felt my face burn. He knew. He definitely knew.

"Thanks," Leo said, and then, with the smallest grin, "You have a little something..." He pointed to his own teeth.

I wanted the pool to open up and swallow me whole. But instead of laughing, he just handed me a napkin from his pocket, like he'd been prepared for this exact moment.

"Happens to the best of us," he said. "I'm Leo, by the way."

"Maya," I lied, then immediately corrected myself. "I mean, I'm Sam. Maya's over there being infinitely cooler than me."

His grin widened. "Nice to meet you, Sam. Want to get away from this party and go get actual food? I think I saw spinach dip at the snack bar."

I laughed, and for the first time all night, I forgot about Tyler and his shampoo-commercial hair. Sometimes the best moments aren't the ones you plan for. They're the ones that find you when you're busy worrying about everything that could go wrong.

"Spinach dip sounds perfect," I said. "But maybe I'll skip it this time."