The Vitamin Test

Maya stared at the gummy vitamin on her tongue, trying not to gag. Her mom had started this new phase where everything had to be "wellness-focused" — which apparently meant choking down neon-colored supplements that tasted like artificial strawberry despair.

"You're not actually going to swallow that, are you?" Chloe asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Chloe, who had been Maya's best friend since sixth grade, before everything got weird freshman year.

"It's just a vitamin, Chloe."

"It's embarrassing." Chloe leaned in closer. "Speaking of embarrassing, did you see what Jessica posted about you?"

Maya's stomach did that familiar twist. Jessica, the school's resident fox — clever, pretty, and always playing some angle — had been circling Maya's friend group all semester. The latest: a TikTok captioned "POV: watching someone try SO hard to be cool when they're actually just... trying."

Subtle. devastating. classic Jessica.

"Why does she even care?" Maya whispered.

"Maybe because you're getting close to Jordan?" Chloe raised her eyebrows. "And Jordan is, like, Jessica's property?"

Jordan. The one person who made Maya feel like she could just breathe. Jordan, who sat with her at lunch when Chloe was "busy" and laughed at her terrible jokes. Jordan, who had no idea Maya had been crushing on him since October.

The hallway bully materialization — Derek, who'd made everyone's life miserable since middle school — shoved past them, hard. "Watch it, losers."

"Nice one, Derek," Maya shot back. "Very original."

He actually stopped. Turned. For a second, Maya thought he'd come back with something worse. But then his phone buzzed — someone probably messaging him about something actually important — and he kept walking.

"You shouldn't provoke him," Chloe said, but there was something different in her voice. "You know what he's like."

"Since when do you care about Derek?" Maya asked quietly.

"Since he started being decent to me. Since unlike SOME people, he actually listens."

Maya felt like she'd swallowed the vitamin wrong. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Chloe sighed, suddenly looking tired. "It means you've been different lately, Maya. Always with Jordan, always acting like you're too cool for your old friends. Jessica's not wrong about you trying too hard."

The words hit harder than Derek ever could.

Maya found Jordan by her locker after school. "Hey," he said, and his smile was genuine. "Wanna walk to the bus stop?"

She looked at Jordan — kind, funny Jordan who knew nothing about the friend group exploding around him. Then she thought about Chloe, who'd been there through everything, even when she was being impossible. About Jessica, who'd cut deep but maybe wasn't entirely wrong about Maya drifting away from who she used to be.

"Actually," Maya said, "I have to do something first."

She found Chloe at the courtyard bench, phone facedown. "I'm sorry," Maya said. "About everything. I've been acting like I'm too grown for my old life."

Chloe looked up. For a second, Maya thought she'd brush it off. But then Chloe's expression softened. "You kind of have been. But I miss you too, idiot."

Maya sat down. "So, what'd Jessica say about me today?"

"Oh my god, you don't even want to know."

Maya laughed — really laughed, for the first time all day. Sometimes the worst parts of high school made you realize who actually mattered. And sometimes, all it took was one terrible-tasting vitamin and a reality check to remember what friendship was supposed to look like.