The Vitamin King of Palm Beach

The **palm** trees swayed like they didn't have a care in the world, which was more than I could say for myself. Three weeks into sophomore year at Palm Beach High, and I still hadn't figured out the lunchroom hierarchy.

"You gonna try out for the team?" Jake asked, spinning a **baseball** on his finger like he'd been doing it since birth. Jake, whose dad actually played minor league. Jake, who probably didn't have parents who'd dragged him to a "business opportunity meeting" last night.

"Maybe," I said, like it wasn't already consuming my entire brain.

The truth was, I'd been spending every afternoon **running** the neighborhood, trying to build stamina for tryouts. But I couldn't exactly explain that my real training started when my phone buzzed at 10 PM with my dad's latest pyramid scheme update.

Because here's the thing: my parents had joined this "wellness empire" last month, and suddenly our living room was stacked with crates of liquid **vitamin** supplements that supposedly cured everything from acne to existential dread. My dad had already given the pitch to my history teacher. My mom had tried to sell to the lunch lady.

I was basically the teenage child of a multilevel marketing disaster.

"My cousin's cousin makes six figures," my dad had announced over breakfast, lining up bottles in a literal **pyramid** on the kitchen table. "All you need is three people under you, and they get three people..."

I'd tuned him out, focused on my baseball cap and tried to disappear.

But then at lunch, Chloe—the girl who sat behind me in bio—leaned over. "Hey, your dad mentioned those vitamins to my mom? She's actually interested."

My face burned. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

"No, they're cool!" Chloe laughed. "Weird, but cool." She paused. "You coming to the bonfire tonight? Everyone's gonna be there."

I stared at her. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Jake said you've got a killer arm. We need a pitcher for our beach game."

The palm fronds danced outside the window. Maybe being the Vitamin King wasn't so terrible after all.