The Bear, The Fox, and The Green Smoothie Disaster

My summer plan was simple: get ripped, get the girl, stop being invisible.

Instead, I was sweating inside a polyester **bear** costume at Camp Pinebrook, mascot head tucked under my arm like a shameful secret.

"You missed the spot again, bear boy."

I looked up to see Fox—that's what everyone called Maya, with her copper hair and eyes that could see straight through people's BS. She was wearing her counselor uniform like she actually belonged here, unlike me, still hiding inside my furry shell.

"I'm taking a break," I muttered, fumbling with my **vitamin** supplements. Mom had sent me with enough gummy vitamins to choke a horse. 'Grow strong,' she'd written. 'You're becoming who you're meant to be.' Whatever that meant.

Fox leaned against the wooden fence of the petting zoo. "You know those things are basically candy, right?"

"They're performance enhancers," I lied, because admitting I took gummy bears seriously would destroy whatever dignity I had left.

She laughed, and something in my chest did that stupid flutter thing it always did around her.

The camp director's voice crackled over the intercom. "Attention counselors: smoothie-making workshop at the mess hall in five minutes!"

"Bet you can't drink whatever I make," Fox said, eyes glinting.

"You're on."

An hour later, I was staring at what looked like radioactive sludge. My concoction: **spinach**, protein powder, a banana, and questionable confidence. Fox's creation was bright pink and smelled like strawberries mixed with regret.

"Bottoms up," she said.

We drank. We both gagged.

"I think I just tasted my soul leaving my body," I choked out.

Fox wiped green from her lip. Then she said something that changed everything: "You know, you're actually pretty cool when you're not hiding in that bear head."

The heat in my face had nothing to do with the summer sun.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Hey, after campfire tonight—wanna hang out? Just us?"

I grinned. "Only if you promise never to speak of this smoothie again."

"Deal, bear boy. Deal."

Maybe summer wasn't going to be so terrible after all.