The Formula for Everything

Maya stared at the bottle of gummy vitamins on her bathroom counter—strawberry-kissed promises of stronger nails, clearer skin, and better hair. Mom swore by them. The internet swore by them. Basically, everyone swore that if you just consumed enough of the right things, you could formula your way into being the person you were supposed to be.

She ran a hand through her curls. They were doing that thing again—defying gravity, defying humidity, defying the sleek straight-hair aesthetic that dominated sophomore year at Northwood High. Sometimes she felt like her hair had its own personality, wild and unapologetic, while Maya spent hours trying to convince it to behave.

"You going to the game tonight?" Kira leaned against the bathroom doorframe, already dressed in her uniform. Cheer captain, obvious.

"Not really feeling it."

"Lucas will be there." Kira raised her eyebrows in that way that meant she knew something she wasn't saying.

Maya's stomach did that flippy thing it always did when Lucas was mentioned, which was ridiculous because they'd been lab partners since September and he'd never once looked at her like anything other than the girl who accidentally set off the fire alarm during the Bunsen burner unit.

"So?"

"So he broke up with Tiffany yesterday."

The vitamins in Maya's hand suddenly looked very interesting. "Oh."

"Come on, Maya. We're gonna grab pizza after. You should come."

The gym was already loud when Maya arrived—squeaking sneakers, the thud-thud-thud of basketballs hitting hardwood, everyone shouting because apparently that was how you communicated at sporting events. She spotted Lucas immediately, sitting two rows up, looking at his phone like it held the secrets to the universe.

His dark hair was messier than usual, and there was something about the set of his shoulders that made Maya's chest hurt a little.

She climbed up and sat next to him.

"Hey," he said, not looking up.

"Hey." She waited. "Heard about Tiffany."

"Yeah. It was—whatever." Lucas finally looked at her, and his eyes were tired in a way Maya hadn't seen before. "She said I was too... I don't know. Unfocused? Like I don't have everything figured out already."

Maya thought about the vitamins at home. About the Instagram posts promising five-step routines to become your best self. About the way she sometimes felt like everyone else had gotten a manual for growing up that she'd missed.

"That's bull," she said.

Lucas blinked, then laughed—a real laugh this time. "Yeah? You think?"

"I mean, who has everything figured out at fifteen? I still don't know how to dress for picture day, let alone what I'm doing with my life."

He was looking at her now, really looking at her. "Your hair looks cool tonight."

Maya touched a curl self-consciously. "It's being impossible."

"Nah. It's got personality. Like you."

The gym was loud, the game was starting, and somewhere in the stands, someone was shouting so loud the floor practically vibrated. But for a second, everything was quiet.

"You know what?" Maya said. "I think I'm done with those vitamins."

"The gummy ones?"

"Yeah. I think I'll just... be messy instead."

Lucas smiled, and it reached his eyes for the first time all night. "Good. Messy's better anyway."

She didn't know what would happen next—if Lucas would actually notice her, or if this was just a moment, or if tomorrow she'd go back to staring at that vitamin bottle on her bathroom counter, wondering how to fix herself.

But right now, with her hair doing whatever it wanted and Lucas's shoulder brushing against hers as the crowd roared, Maya thought maybe some things weren't meant to be fixed. Maybe they were just meant to be lived.

And that was formula enough.