Sweaty Palms at Bear Lake

Maya's palms were sweating through her favorite jeans as she stood behind the giant wooden **bear** statue at Camp Wannago, clutching a bottle of strawberry **vitamin** gummies like they were contraband. Her best friend Riley had dared her to **spy** on the popular girls' cabin, but honestly? Maya was just curious what made them so magnetic.

"You're doing it again," Riley whispered, checking her phone. "Overthinking. Just look natural."

Easy for Riley to say. She'd been camp queen three years running. Maya was still trying to figure out who she was—quiet girl? Drama kid? The one who took **vitamin** supplements because her mom said they'd help her "grow into her confidence"?

The sun blazed over Bear Lake as they crept closer to the dock, where the popular crew—led by Chloe, who seemed to glow—sat dangling their feet in the **water**. Maya's heart did that stupid fluttery thing whenever Chloe laughed.

"What if they catch us?" Maya hissed.

"Then we own it," Riley said. "Confidence is key, May."

But Maya's confidence was currently dissolving like sugar in warm lake water. She shifted her weight, accidentally knocking the vitamin bottle against the wooden post. CLUNK.

Chloe looked up. Maya's **palm**s went from sweaty to waterfall-level in two seconds flat.

"Hey!" Chloe called. "You wanna come **swim**? We were just talking about how funny you were at the campfire last night."

Wait—what?

Maya stood there, frozen. All summer she'd been convinced Chloe and her friends were judging her from across the mess hall, the bonfire, the arts and crafts cabin. She'd spent weeks crafting elaborate scenarios about what they thought of her.

But Chloe was just... waiting? Smiling?

"Um, yeah," Maya said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Let me just—" She shoved the vitamin gummies into Riley's hands and walked toward the dock, knees shaking.

"Nice vitamins, dork," Riley whispered behind her, but her voice was fond.

The lake **water** was shockingly cold, but as she paddled out beside Chloe, laughing at something stupid about the camp mascot bear, Maya felt something shift. Maybe the real spy mission hadn't been about watching from afar. Maybe it had been about finally seeing herself clearly enough to join the story instead of just watching from the edges.