Thunderpool Chaos

Maya's braces had finally come off yesterday, which meant freedom at last—no more avoiding spinach at dinner, no more embarrassing metal-mouth situations. But standing at the edge of Jordan's pool party, wearing her mismatched bikini (because apparently Target was out of the good sets), she felt more trapped than ever.

The popular crew was by the diving board, doing that thing where they made everything look effortless. Maya was technically invited—Jordan had invited everyone in homeroom—but socially, she was hovering in the"kinda" zone. She spent forty minutes pretending to be fascinated by the potato chips, essentially working as an undercover spy for her own dignity.

"Yo, Maya!" Jordan called, waving from the water. "Come swimming already!"

She jumped in before she could overthink it, which was both a great and terrible strategy. The water felt amazing, but then Kaitlyn (the Kaitlyn who had somehow mastered the art of not getting her hair wet) started drifting toward her.

"Your phone's blowing up," Kaitlyn said, pointing to the towel table where Maya's screen was going crazy. "Everything good?"

Then Maya felt it—a tiny green something wedged between her front teeth. SPINACH. From the stupid spinach artichoke dip she'd crushed earlier. She'd been smiling at people for TWO HOURS with spinach in her smile like a total clown.

Before she could die of humiliation, actual lightning cracked across the sky. Everyone screamed. Jordan's mom started herding everyone inside like they were kindergarteners.

"No swimming during thunder!" someone yelled.

Maya practically leaped out of the pool, grabbing her towel and racing for the bathroom mirror. But Kaitlyn caught her arm.

"Wait," she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a mini floss thing. "I literally carry these everywhere. Braces trauma, you know?"

Maya flossed out the spinach while Kaitlyn stood watch like a bodyguard.

"We've all been there," Kaitlyn said with a grin that was actually nice. "Wanna play Mario Kart once Jordan's mom stops freaking out about the storm?"

The lightning outside kept flashing, and the thunder kept rumbling, but Maya's social standing had just shifted from"kinda" to"definitely." Sometimes the worst moments became the best ones. And spinach? Spinach could actually be your wingman, apparently.