Vitamins for the Brave

Marcus stared at the orange prescription bottle. " centrum teenagers" the label read, but he knew better. These weren't vitamins. They were his ticket to surviving summer baseball camp without passing out from heat exhaustion again. Not that he'd ever admit that to anyone.

"You taking those again?" Jayden raised an eyebrow from the next locker over. Jayden, his best friend since third grade, now a varsity pitcher who'd gotten somehow hot over sophomore year. "Still trying to compensate for being, you know, vertically challenged?"

Marcus flipped him off without turning around. "Coach says we need electrolytes. Try keeping up instead of running your mouth."

The first day of swimming tests loomed like a storm cloud. Marcus had managed to dodge it freshman year with a "doctor's note" his mom wrote, but sophomore year meant no escapes. The lake part of camp—mandatory, humiliating, and

"You're not gonna, like, drown, right?" Jayden asked later while they sat on the dock, feet dangling in water that looked suspiciously like something died in it. "'Cause I'm not CPR certified."

"Har har." Marcus stripped down to his trunks, feeling every inch of his pasty self exposed. At least he wasn't the only one struggling—half the team looked like fish flopping on dry land.

Then he saw her.

Lena from English class. The Lena who sat behind him and made those tiny snorting laughs when he whispered something actually funny. The Lena who, impossibly, looked even better in a swimsuit than she did in that oversized hoodie she always wore.

She was wading near the dock with some friends. Of course. Because the universe hated him.

"Yo, Marcus!" Jayden shouted. "Catch!" A baseball came flying at his head—Jayden's idea of a joke before Marcus could even react, he slipped.

Everything went slow-motion. The splash. The water rushing up his nose. The primal panic of someone who'd spent fifteen years avoiding deep water. His arms flailed. Something brushed against his leg—probably a log, probably not—but in that moment, Marcus's brain decided: bear. Definitely a bear.

He broke the surface gasping, thrashing like a maniac.

Lena was laughing. Not the cruel laugh he expected, but something genuine, head-thrown-back, snort-laugh funny.

"You good?" she called out. "Looked like you fought a bear in there."

Marcus treaded water, face burning hotter than the sun overhead. "Yeah. Just. Testing the water temperature. With my whole body."

"Smooth." Lena swam closer, treading water easily. "I'm Lena, by the way. Since apparently we're both doing the literal sink-or-swim thing today."

"Marcus." He paused. "I hate this. Just so you know. Full disclosure."

"Same." Her eyes crinkled. "Hey, maybe we can suffer together? Safety in numbers and all that?"

Behind him, Jayden called, "Ooooooh, Marcus!" but Marcus didn't even care.

Later, dripping on the dock while Lena laughed at something he said, Marcus realized something. Those vitamins? They weren't magic. But maybe, just maybe, neither was he supposed to be. Maybe being brave was just showing up, even when you'd rather be literally anywhere else.

And maybe that was enough.