Orange Vitamin Summer Secrets

Maya's legs burned like fire as she rounded the track, lungs screaming, but honestly? That was the only time her brain shut up. Running was her escape button from the disaster that was sophomore year.

"You're literally insane," Kayla had said that morning, watching Maya down her third gummy vitamin. "Those aren't even real vitamins, they're basically candy with marketing."

"Shut up," Maya had shot back, but now, pounding out mile repeats, she wondered if Kayla was right. Not about the vitamins—those were definitely science—but about everything else. The way Maya felt like she was constantly holding her breath, waiting for something real to happen.

The water fountain at the edge of the field glinted in the sun like a promise. She slowed to a walk, chest heaving, and grabbed her bottle from the bench. Plain water. Boring. Normal.

Then she saw him.

Cameron leaned against the bleachers, drinking this bright orange electrolyte thing that looked radioactive. Maya froze like a deer in headlights, then immediately pretended to be intensely interested in her shoelaces. Smooth. She was basically a spy at this point—spy-level skills at accidentally making eye contact and then panicking.

"Hey," he said, and Maya's stomach did this full gymnastics routine. "You're on the cross country team, right? I saw your name on the roster for regionals."

Her brain short-circuited. He knew her name? He knew about regionals? She'd been spying on his Instagram stories for months and somehow HE knew stuff about HER? The universe had a weird sense of humor.

"Yeah," she managed, trying to play it cool. Definitely not obsessing over how the orange glow from his drink made his profile look like art. "I, uh, like running."

Kill her now.

Cameron laughed, but like, in a nice way? "Me too. That's why I'm out here—recovering from practice. You want some?" He held out the orange bottle. "It's got vitamins and stuff. My mom says it's basically sugar water, but whatever works."

Maya stared at it—this bright, glowing opportunity literally sitting in front of her. The vitamins, the water, the orange everything, the fact that she'd been running in circles like an idiot while this guy was just... here.

"Sure," she said, and when their fingers brushed, she decided that maybe sophomore year wasn't a complete disaster after all.

She'd worry about the gummy vitamins later. Right now, she had more important things to think about.