Curveball Summer

The humidity hit Marcus like a physical weight as he stood at the edge of the **pool**, clutching his phone like a lifeline. His older sister's graduation party raged behind him — music, laughter, the splash of bodies hitting water. But Marcus? He was frozen.

Two hours ago, his mom had taken him to Great Clips for what was supposed to be a trim. What he got instead was a buzz cut that revealed exactly how much his ears stuck out. Now his **hair** was gone, and so was his confidence. He checked his **iPhone** again. No texts from Ashley. Not that he expected her to suddenly notice him after three years of existing in adjacent social circles, but a guy could dream.

"Marcus! Get in here!" His best friend Danny cannonballed into the water, surfacing with a grin. "You're missing the party!"

Marcus's **palm** was sweating against his phone case. He couldn't swim. Not literally — he could doggy paddle fine. But swimming meant taking off his baseball cap, and taking off his cap meant exposing the disaster on his head.

"You good?" Ashley's voice made him jump. She stood behind him, dripping wet in her oversized t-shirt and cutoffs. Her hair was a messy, perfect halo. Marcus's stomach did that thing it always did when she was near — like he'd swallowed a swarm of butterflies.

"Yeah," he managed. "Just... chilling."

She tilted her head. "You've been staring at your phone for twenty minutes. Something interesting on Twitter?"

Marcus shrugged. What could he say? *Sorry, I'm having an existential crisis because my hair looks like a lawn mower accident and I'm terrified you'll notice my ears*?

Ashley studied him, then reached out and tugged gently at his **baseball** cap. Marcus flinched, but she didn't pull it off. Instead, she grinned.

"You know," she said, "my brother got the exact same buzz cut last week. He looked like a penitent monk for three days straight." She paused. "Yours actually looks kind of fresh. Like, intentionally edgy."

Marcus blinked. "You think?"

"I know," she said. "Now are you getting in this pool or what? Danny's doing a belly flop contest and he needs competition."

Marcus looked at his phone one last time, then slipped it into his pocket. He took a deep breath, pulled off his cap, and jumped. The water was perfect. And somewhere in the splash and chaos, Marcus stopped caring about his hair and started actually living.