Vitamin Water Victory

The baseball tryouts. The thing that had been haunting my nightmares since seventh grade. I stood at the plate, clutching the aluminum bat like my life depended on it, while Coach Miller adjusted his sunglasses behind home plate.

"Show me what you got, Sanchez," he called out.

I swung at the first pitch and missed. Hard. The ball kept spinning, mocking me. Second pitch? Strike two. My face burned hotter than the sun reflecting off the orange jersey of the guy in left field who was definitely not trying to hide his laughter.

Third pitch came. I closed my eyes, swung with everything I had, and—crack. The ball soared toward the fence. I dropped the bat and sprinted toward first base, my heart doing backflips. Safe.

"Not bad, kid," Coach Miller nodded. "But you look like you're gonna pass out."

He wasn't wrong. My knees were shaking like crazy. My best friend Maya tossed me a bottle from the sidelines. "Special recipe," she whispered with a grin. "Vitamin water for the soul."

I cracked it open—orange flavored, obviously—and chugged half the bottle in one go. The irony wasn't lost on me. The same girl who'd been making fun of my baseball anxiety all week was now my personal hydration coach.

"Remember what you said last night?" Maya leaned against the chain-link fence. "About how you were bear-hugging your fears?"

I groaned. "I was emotional. It was 2 AM. We agreed never to speak of that again."

She laughed, but her expression softened. "You made the team, though. Right?"

I checked the roster posted on the dugout wall. There it was: #17, Jason Sanchez, starting outfielder. The letters seemed to glow.

I looked at Maya, who was already snapchatting the victory like the ride-or-die best friend she was. The orange vitamin water bottle in my hand suddenly felt symbolic. Weirdly perfect. The same way this whole ridiculous, terrifying, awesome day had been.

"You're buying real Gatorade next time," I told her. "This vitamin stuff tastes like sadness."

"Deal," she grinned. "But only if you promise to stop making bear metaphors when you're stressed."