The Vitamin Spy Protocol

Marcus stood by the lunch line, pretending to examine the mystery meat while actually conducting surveillance.

"Target approaching," he whispered into his imaginary comms.

His best friend Darius rolled his eyes. "Bro, you're not a **spy**, you're just staring at Chloe again."

"It's called recon, Darius. And that's the third day this week she's chosen the **spinach** salad over pizza. Interesting."

The cafeteria social hierarchy loomed above him like some ancient **pyramid**—the athletes at the top, the TikTok famous kids forming the middle layer, and everyone else scattered at the bottom like forgotten crumbs. Marcus had been living at base level since August, invisible and entirely okay with it. Or at least, that's what he told himself.

His phone buzzed with a text from his mom: "Don't forget your **vitamin** D supplements! Winter blues are real!" She'd been sending daily supplement reminders since his older sister Maya started her holistic medicine phase. Marcus would rather face the social pyramid alone than drink another chalky protein shake that tasted like crushed chalk and regret.

"Bro, are you gonna get lunch or what?" Darius asked, tapping his foot impatiently. "The **cable** guy is coming to my house at 3, we need to hurry if you want to finish that Call of Duty mission before my mom kills us both for being loud again."

Marcus's heart raced. This was it. The moment he'd been rehearsing in his mirror for weeks. He grabbed a spinach salad—new strategy: maybe health-conscious Marcus would catch Chloe's attention—and marched toward her table like he was heading into battle.

"Hey," he said, his voice cracking spectacularly. "I noticed you like spinach too. Crazy, right?"

Chloe looked up, confused but amused. "Um, yeah? It's food?"

"I'm Marcus," he blurted out, his brain short-circuiting. "I play Call of Duty. Sometimes I forget to take my vitamins."

What was wrong with him? This was a disaster.

Chloe's confused expression cracked into a genuine smile. "I'm Chloe. I saw you staring at me yesterday. I thought you were creeped out by my spinach mustache or something."

His face burned. "No! I was just...admiring your...leafy green choices?"

She laughed, and something clicked. The pyramid in his head started to crumble, dissolving like sugar in water.

"You want to sit?" Chloe asked, gesturing to the empty seat across from her.

Marcus turned to Darius, whose jaw had hit the floor.

"Spy mission complete," Marcus whispered, grinning. "Target acquired."

The social pyramid didn't matter anymore. Marcus had just leveled up, and he hadn't even needed a power-up.