The Undead Salad Incident

Maya pulled her beanie **hat** down lower, praying the earth would swallow her whole before fourth period. The cafeteria smelled like despair and overcooked fish sticks.

"So," Marcus said, sliding onto the bench across from her, "you coming to Jordan's party tonight? Everyone's gonna be there."

Maya's stomach did that annoying flip-flop thing it always did around him. "I don't know, maybe. My mom's making me watch my little cousin."

"Lame." Marcus grinned, and Maya hated how much she loved his crooked teeth. "Just come. It's gonna be sick."

Her phone buzzed. MOM: Please pick up spinach from grocery store on your way home. Don't forget!

Maya groaned. Who volunteered to buy **spinach"** on a Friday? Only her life.

At home, her cousin Leo was sprawled on the couch, watching The Walking Dead for the eighteenth time. "You look like a **zombie**," Maya informed him.

"Uncle Jerry says I can stay up late," Leo said. "He also says you're grounded until you're thirty for what happened last time."

Maya didn't want to remember last time. The truth was, she'd been too nervous to actually go to Jordan's previous party. She'd ghosted. Everyone had noticed. Now she was the girl who couldn't show up.

Her **cat**, Barnaby, chose that moment to vomit on the rug.

"SERIOUSLY?" Maya grabbed paper towels. "You couldn't have aimed for literally anything else?"

By the time she cleaned everything and forced Leo to eat actual food for dinner, she was exhausted. The house was quiet. Her phone showed texts from her friends: *We're at Jordan's! Where r u??*

Maya looked at herself in the hallway mirror. Hat hair. No makeup. Sweatpants. Spinach still sitting on the counter.

Screw it.

She threw on her favorite oversized hoodie, grabbed her keys, and drove to Jordan's house with **spinach** in a bag on her passenger seat like a total loser.

"Maya!" Jordan opened the door, music thumping behind her. "You made it!"

"Yeah, and I brought..." Maya held up the bag. "Spinach. If anyone wants to be healthy I guess?"

Jordan cracked up. "You're so weird. I love it."

Maya found Marcus in the kitchen, attempting to make nachos and failing miserably. "Need help?" she asked.

"Please," he said. "I'm about to burn down Jordan's house."

They made the worst nachos in history together. Maya's spinach became a joke, Marcus almost dropped a tray of cheese on the floor, and Jordan's little sister kept photobombing them. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't like the movies.

But when Marcus brushed her hand reaching for a chip and didn't pull away, Maya thought maybe real life was better anyway.