The Vitamins Incident

Maya stared at herself in the mirror, wondering when exactly she'd started to look like a hibernating bear. The hoodie three sizes too big. The dark circles under her eyes from late-night TikTok scrolling. The way she wanted to curl up and disappear whenever someone mentioned the upcoming spring formal.

"You good?" Her best friend Chloe leaned against the bathroom door frame, looking annoyingly perfect in her crop top and perfectly curled hair.

"Just admiring the bear aesthetic," Maya muttered. "It's a vibe."

"You're being dramatic again." Chloe tossed something at her. Maya caught it – a bottle of bright orange gummy vitamins. "My mom says I need to take these for my skin. You want some? They're supposed to make you glow."

Maya squinted at the bottle. "Since when do you care about glowing? You literally called skincare a conspiracy last week."

"Since Jason might actually ask me to formal." Chloe's voice went soft, almost vulnerable. "And since I noticed he's been looking at Sarah more than me lately."

There it was. The teenage social hierarchy in all its glory. Sarah, who somehow managed to look like a fox – all sharp angles and knowing smiles and perfectly highlighted hair that fell just right. Sarah, who'd already been asked to formal three times.

Maya popped two gummy vitamins into her mouth. They tasted like artificial citrus and false hope. "These aren't going to help. Just saying."

"You're literally the worst at pep talks."

"I'm realistic." Maya adjusted her hoodie. "If Jason likes Sarah, he likes Sarah. You can't vitamin your way into someone's heart."

The bell rang. Chloe sighed, grabbed her backpack. "You're coming over after school. We're figuring out my outfit, and you're going to help me look less like... well, me. And more like someone Jason would notice."

Maya nodded, but something in her chest tightened. Because here's the thing nobody talked about: how sometimes you looked at yourself and didn't know who you were supposed to be. The bear in the hoodie or the fox in the dress. The real question wasn't whether Jason would ask Chloe to formal – it was whether any of them actually knew themselves enough to be happy with whoever said yes.

"Fine," Maya said. "But we're ordering pizza. And I'm taking like ten more of these vitamins first."