The Vitamin C Incident

I was running down the hallway — like, actually booking it, my converse squeaking against the linoleum like a dying mouse — because I was approximately thirty seconds late to first period AP Bio, and Mr. Harrison had already given me his "I'm not mad, just disappointed" speech twice that week.

So naturally, I rounded the corner and immediately face-planted over a thick orange coaxial cable someone had strung across the corridor. Probably the AV club setting up for the morning announcements they'd been hyping all week. My backpack exploded everywhere. Papers, pens, and worst of all — my mom's ultra-embarrassing vitamin organizer went flying.

Those little plastic pill cases scattered like confetti. The bright orange ones. The ones my mom swore would "boost my immune system during finals season" but were actually just regular multivitamins shaped like cartoon fruits.

And of course, Maya was walking toward me. Maya Chen, who I'd been lowkey crushing on since seventh grade, who I'd finally worked up the courage to sit next to at lunch yesterday. She stopped. Stared at me. Stared at the vitamins scattered like some kind of wellness-themed crime scene.

I started scrambling to scoop everything up, my face literally on fire.

"Wow," she said. "That's... a lot of vitamin C."

I froze. Looked up. She was smiling. Not laughing at me — just smiling.

"My mom's going through a phase," I muttered, shoving vitamins back into their little plastic compartments like my life depended on it.

She knelt down and started helping me. Her hand brushed mine and my brain short-circuited like the cable I'd just tripped over.

"My mom tried to get me into those too," she said quietly. "She thinks they help with stress."

We sat there on the hallway floor, gathering cartoon-shaped vitamins while the late bell rang in the distance. And for the first time all year, I didn't care about being late.

"Want to walk together?" I asked, standing up and offering her my hand.

She took it. "Yeah. But next time, watch out for cables, okay?"

"I'll make it my mission."

I was still running late, but suddenly I didn't mind the chase.