The Vitamin Gummy Incident

The water in Maya's backyard pool glittered like someone had spilled a galaxy into it, which was exactly the kind of poetic crap her older sister would post on Instagram. Maya stood at the edge wearing a tankini she'd bought three sizes too big because she'd been too scared to try it on in the store.

"You coming in or what?" Jordan called from the middle of the pool. He was her friend—well, technically her friend friend, whatever that meant when you'd known someone since third grade and suddenly couldn't look at them without your stomach doing backflips.

"I'm good," Maya said, but then Chen, who'd somehow become the social director of their friend group this summer, splashed water at her.

"Nope. We don't do 'good' at Jordan's parties. We do 'awkwardly stand in the shallow end until someone forces us to play chicken.'" Chen paddled over. "Besides, I have something for you."

Maya perched on the pool edge. "Please tell me it's not more of those weird influencer vitamin gummies."

"They're not weird! They're 'mood-supporting wellness supplements.'" Chen pulled a neon-orange bottle from her bag. "My mom says I have to share my health journey with my friends. It's very community-focused."

"Your mom sells MLM products, Chen. That's not a health journey, that's a pyramid scheme."

"Whatever. Just try one. Jordan's been taking them all week."

Maya's stomach did that thing again. "Jordan's taking fake vitamin gummies?"

"He says they help him 'bear the weight of academic pressure,'" Chen mocked Jordan's serious voice perfectly. "Bro's been quoting wellness influencers like they're philosophers. It's low-key hilarious."

A cat—a massive, fluffy orange monstrosity—strolled out from behind the pool shed and sat by Maya's bare feet, staring at her with judgment in its yellow eyes.

"Is that Jordan's cat?" Maya asked.

"That's Bear." Jordan swam over, water dripping from his hair. "Named him Bear because he's enormous and slightly terrifying. But also because he literally bears his soul to anyone who'll pet him."

Maya bit her lip. "You gave your cat a whole personality backstory?"

"What? I'm in my emotional era."

"The vitamin gummies are talking," Chen whispered.

Jordan climbed out of the pool, dripping water everywhere, and Maya's brain short-circuited because he was wearing swim trunks and his shoulders existed and this was fine, everything was fine, she was definitely fine.

"You want a gummy or not?" Chen asked.

Maya looked at Jordan, who was now petting Bear while the cat made grumpy sounds. She looked at the neon gummy bottle. She looked at the stupid sparkly water.

"Sure," she said, and Chen tossed her a gummy that was shaped like a star and tasted like artificial strawberry and questionable life choices.

"To wellness," Jordan said, holding up an imaginary glass.

"To not thinking too hard about anything," Maya countered, and swallowed it.

Bear meowed like he agreed.