The Vitamin Protocol

I swallowed my fourth vitamin D supplement of the week while staring at my reflection. The beanie hugged my head like a security blanket - weird, considering it was ninety degrees outside and everyone else was embracing the Florida heat. But this hat was my armor, my "don't talk to me, I'm emo" signal that I'd carefully curated since seventh grade.

"You ready?" Maya called from downstairs. My best friend since forever, Maya was everything I wasn't: confident, popular, seemingly immune to the social anxiety that had me overthinking every interaction since middle school.

I grabbed my phone - thirteen notifications from the group chat about Jordan's party tonight. Jordan, who'd barely acknowledged my existence until last week when he suddenly decided I was "actually pretty cool." My stomach did that thing where it simultaneously wanted to explode and disappear.

The vitamin bottle sat on my desk like a judgmental reminder of my mother's voice: "You never go outside, you're probably deficient in everything." She wasn't wrong. Between AP classes, video games, and my carefully maintained hermit lifestyle, I'd successfully avoided most direct sunlight for three years.

Maya burst into my room, already dressed in that effortless way that made me want to scream. "Jordan's gonna be there. And his friends. And-"

"And I'll be standing there like a zombie until someone offers me food, then I'll accidentally say something weird and spend the rest of the night overthinking it in the bathroom," I finished.

She grinned. "Exactly. But that's why I'm your friend. I'll translate your awkward silence into 'mysterious and intriguing.'"

The hat felt tighter suddenly. A lie, literally and figuratively. Maya didn't know that Jordan had DM'd me yesterday, asking if I'd be there. Didn't know I'd spent three hours crafting a response that still came out weird. Didn't know I kind of wanted to take off the hat and actually try.

"Maybe tonight's the night," Maya said softer, reading something in my expression.

I looked at the vitamin bottle again. Some things you can't supplement your way out of. Some things you just have to actual do.

I pulled off the hat. My hair was flattened, ridiculous. "Yeah. Maybe."