The Spy in the Cafeteria

Maya's fork hovered halfway to her mouth when she saw him. Lucas. The boy who made her stomach do backflips and her brain turn to complete mush. Today he was wearing that ridiculous bright orange hoodie—the one she'd secretly texted her bestie about three nights ago with the caption: "he's so annoying but like...he's hot though fr 💀"

Her phone buzzed. Chloe: "Bro stop staring ur gonna burn a hole in his head lmao"

Maya ducked behind her lunch tray. This was fine. Totally normal. She was just a girl enjoying her cafeteria spinach dip while casually sitting within optimal observation distance of her crush. Not weird at all.

"I'm not staring," she typed back, lying through her teeth. "I'm conducting research. Gathering intel. Being a spy of love."

"U sound like a creep istg"

Maya set her phone down, feeling the weight of sixteen years of awkward existence pressing down on her shoulders. Being a teenager was basically a 24/7 crisis of everything, all the time. The overthinking. The constant awareness of every single limb and whether it was doing something weird. The way her voice cracked when she tried to talk to Lucas and ended up sounding like a dying cat instead of a normal human person.

She took a huge bite of her spinach dip to calm her nerves.

Big mistake.

"Maya?"

She froze. Swallowed. This was not happening. This could NOT be happening.

Lucas was standing at her table. Orange hoodie, messy hair, that smile that made her forget how to English. His eyes flicked to her face, then widened slightly.

"Hey, I—" He stopped. Grinned. A real one, not the polite fake-smile he gave teachers. "You've got a little..." He gestured to his own teeth.

The spinach. THE SPINACH.

Maya's soul left her body. It ascended to a higher plane of existence where 16-year-olds didn't have to endure public humiliation. "Oh my god," she whispered. She grabbed a napkin. "Thanks. That's—that's great. Cool. Awesome."

Lucas laughed, and it was genuinely nice, not mean at all. "It happens. Hey, I was gonna ask—"

"I have to go," Maya blurted, standing up way too fast. "To the bathroom. Because of the spinach. Which is now gone. Bye."

She practically ran to the bathroom, her face burning hot enough to power a small city. Chloe caught her eye from across the cafeteria and was absolutely losing it, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

Maya locked herself in a stall and slid down the wall. That was it. Her social life was over. She would have to change her name and move to another country. Maybe become a monk. Monks didn't have to worry about spinach in their teeth or cute boys in orange hoodies.

Her phone buzzed again. Chloe: "so how'd it go?? 🍿"

Maya started typing a long, dramatic response about her humiliation and impending plan to fake her own death.

Then a new message appeared. From an unknown number.

"Hey, this is Lucas. Chloe gave me your number. I was trying to ask if you wanted to study for the chem test together? Also you're really cute when you're panicked. No joke about the spinach I promise lol"

Maya stared at her screen. Then she smiled. Then she laughed out loud in the bathroom stall like a total dork.

Maybe being a teenager wasn't so bad after all.

Maybe she was terrible at being a spy.

But sometimes, apparently, you didn't need to be. Sometimes the orange-hoodied crush of your life would just...text you first.