Vitamin Real

My palms were literally sweating as I stood by the pool party. Everyone looked so effortless, so chill. Meanwhile, I was clutching this papaya my mom insisted I bring because apparently, it's 'exotic' and 'sophisticated.' Whatever that means.

"Hey Maya!" Sophie called, beckoning me over to where the cool kids were hanging out. "What's with the fruit?"

I froze. This was it—the moment where everyone realizes I'm weird and I become a social pariah forever.

"It's... uh... a papaya," I managed, my voice cracking.

"No way!" Jake, who I'd had a crush on since seventh grade, actually looked interested. "My parents are always talking about how vitamin C in tropical fruit is, like, way better than supplements. Something about absorption?"

I stared at him. Jake—actual Jake—was talking about vitamin absorption at a pool party?

"Yeah," I found myself saying, gaining momentum. "My mom's super into natural stuff. Says synthetic vitamins are basically garbage."

"Same!" Sophie laughed. "My dad takes, like, twelve pills a day and my mom's always arguing he should just eat oranges instead."

We spent the next twenty minutes talking about everything from our parents' weird health obsessions to how embarrassed we felt at school yesterday. Jake even admitted his palms sweat when he has to present projects.

"Same!" I practically shouted. Then, realizing how loud I'd been, I covered my mouth.

Jake grinned. "Wanna jump in the pool? The water's actually decent for once."

Later, floating on my back with papaya seeds somehow still on my fingers, I realized something: all that energy I spent worrying about being cool? Literally pointless. The real moments happened when I stopped trying to be someone I wasn't.

Plus, I learned that Jake talks about vitamin absorption at parties. Which was, honestly, the most endearing thing I'd ever heard.