Beneath the Baseball Cap

Marcus stood at the edge of the pool party, his snapback pulled low. The hat was his armor—a perfect shield against the possibility of looking uncool. Through the brim, he watched Jessica laugh at something Tyler said. Tyler, who played baseball and actually had muscles. Tyler, whose hair was perfect without any hat at all.

"Yo Marcus, you gonna stand there all day or actually swim?" called his best friend Dre, already doing a cannonball off the diving board.

Marcus adjusted his baseball cap. "I'm good. Just chilling."

Truth was, Marcus had forgotten his swim trunks. But admitting that would be social suicide. So he'd stood there for forty-five minutes pretending to be above it all, while secretly sweating through his t-shirt.

Jessica appeared beside him, water dripping from her hair. She smelled like chlorine and strawberry shampoo. "You wearing that hat in the pool? Bold fashion statement."

His face burned. "Yeah, you know. Keeping the sun out of my eyes. At night."

She laughed, but not meanly. "I'm Jessica, by the way. We have algebra together."

"Marcus. We sit three rows apart."

"Right! You always wear that hat." She studied his face. "What are you hiding under there, anyway?"

Before he could deflect, Dre splashed up beside them. "Marcus here has hat hair for days, Jess. Trust me, I've seen it. It's magnificent."

"Shut up, Dre," Marcus groaned.

"Show her," Jessica said, grinning. "I dare you."

Marcus hesitated. Then he thought about Tyler, who didn't need props to be confident. He pulled off the baseball cap.

His curls sprang free, wild and unruly.

Jessica smiled. "See? That wasn't so hard. Your hair's kinda cool, actually. Better than hiding it."

Maybe she was just being nice. But something in her eyes said she meant it.

"Thanks," Marcus said, and for the first time all night, he didn't rush to put the hat back on.

Jessica tilted her head toward the pool. "Race you to the deep end?"

"You're on," Marcus said, diving in wearing just his boxers and finally, finally, not caring who saw.