Orange Bear Vitamins

Maya stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, the fluorescent lights doing her zero favors. First day of sophomore year, and she'd already committed the ultimate crime: wearing the same orange hoodie as the school mascot, a cheerleading bear named Barnaby.

"Great," she muttered. "Now I'm literally Orange Bear Girl."

Her older brother Leo leaned against the doorframe, already dressed in his varsity jacket like he owned the place. "You gonna take your vitamin gummies or what? Mom said you've been skipping them."

Maya rolled her eyes so hard it hurt. "I'm fifteen, Leo. I don't need vitamin supervision."

"Whatever." He tossed the bottle at her. "Just don't come crying when you get sick before homecoming."

The bus ride was a nightmare. Every time someone mentioned the orange-clad mascot performing at the pep rally later, Maya felt three faces turn toward her. She spent the morning practically speed-walking between classes, head down, hood up.

By lunch, she'd had enough. She sat at her usual table in the corner, pulling out her vitamin gummies and shoving two in her mouth aggressively.

"Yo, Orange Bear Girl!"

Maya froze. It was Tyler, the junior whose TikTok had gone viral last month for accidentally setting his kitchen on fire making a "simple" grilled cheese.

"My hoodie's from Target," she said before he could speak. "And yes, I know I look like the mascot."

Tyler laughed. Actually laughed. "Nah, I was gonna say your hoodie's sick. And also, you're sitting at the table we claimed for gaming club."

Maya blinked. "Gaming club?"

"Yeah, we meet Mondays and Wednesdays. You play?"

"I mean—"

"She's in!" Tyler宣布 to the table of six other kids, all of whom now stared at Maya with varying degrees of interest. One girl with purple streaks in her hair slid down to make room.

"I'm Riley," she said. "Ignore Tyler, he's got no chill. You play Valorant?"

Maya sat. "I'm more of a Minecraft girl, but..."

"Even better," Riley said. "We need someone who actually knows how to build stuff. Tyler's houses look like depressive minimalist art."

"Hey!"

Maya smiled, really smiled, for the first time all day. She pulled another vitamin gummy from her pocket—her nervous habit—and held it up like a toast.

"So," she said. "What do we play first?"

Somewhere in the distance, the real Barnaby the Bear was probably performing at the pep rally. But Maya was exactly where she wanted to be, orange hoodie and all.