The Bear in the Background
Summer at Pine Valley Amusement Park smelled like corn dogs and desperation. I'd bear the humiliation of wearing this mascot costume for $8.50 an hour, all while my ex-best-friend ...
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Summer at Pine Valley Amusement Park smelled like corn dogs and desperation. I'd bear the humiliation of wearing this mascot costume for $8.50 an hour, all while my ex-best-friend ...
Maya's mom called it her "crowning glory." Maya called it a lot of things, mostly when she was fighting with the flatiron for twenty minutes before school. Her hair was thick, friz...
I was already regretting agreeing to help with the spring dance decorations when Coach Martinez blew her whistle from the pool deck. "Harrison! Swim practice in ten! Don't think I...
The orange dye still stained my mother's bathtub when Summer's text lit up my phone: pool party at 2. Don't be lame. I stared at my reflection—freshly orange hair, newly bold, sud...
Jordan's phone died at 2 AM on the worst possible night. The cabin had no WiFi, obviously, because Jordan's mom had booked this 'nature retreat' to force them to 'make memories.' ...
Maya stood by the deep end of the Andersons' pool, clutching her Solo cup like a lifeline. The June humidity was already frizzing her curls, and she'd been here exactly seven minut...
Maya's palms were sweating. Again. She wiped them on her jeans—third time in five minutes—as she leaned against the lockers, trying to look like she wasn't definitely waiting. "Yo...
The social pyramid at Northwood High was real, and I was currently occupying its basement level. Freshman year. I sat on the baseball bleachers, cleats dangling, watching the varsi...
The text from my crush had been sitting there for twenty minutes: u coming to padel today? everyone's gonna be there. I looked at my goldfish, Captain Bubbles, who stared back wit...
Marcus adjusted his beanie for the third time, the lucky hat his grandma gave him feeling less like armor and more like a target. The bass thumped through someone's garage walls as...
Maya's palms were sweating as she clutched her iPhone, the screen cracked from when she'd dropped it that morning because her hands literally couldn't even. The screen lit up: **Yo...
5 AM swim practice hit different when you'd been up until 2 doom-scrolling. Maya dragged herself to the pool, feeling like a total zombie—hoodie pulled low, eyes barely open, exist...