Fox Den Friday

Riley's orange hair wasn't a phase, no matter what her mom said. It was a statement. A very bright, very unnatural statement that got her kicked out of honor roll photos and made random people at Stop & Shop ask if she was "going through something."

She wasn't. Or maybe she was. That was the problem — she didn't even know anymore.

"You look like a traffic cone," Maya said, kicking her locker shut. "But like, in a good way."

"Thanks?" Riley adjusted her fishnets, which were definitely against dress code but somehow never got noticed. Probably because the administration was too busy worrying about kids vaping in the bathrooms.

The fox thing started accidentally. Riley worked the closing shift at the gas station, and one night she saw this scraggly little fox hanging around the dumpster. She started tossing him leftover hot dog pieces. Now he showed up every Friday like it was his job. She'd named him Cornelius because he had the energy of a weird uncle.

"You're gonna get rabies," Maya said when Riley told her.

"Cornelius is gentle. We have a bond."

"Cornelius is a wild animal, Ri."

Whatever. Maya didn't get it. Nobody really got Riley these days, including herself sometimes.

The goldfish situation was worse. Her little brother won one at the carnival, named it Swim Shady, then promptly lost interest when the novelty wore off in like two days. Now Riley was stuck with this depressed-looking fish swimming endless circles in a bowl on her nightstand, staring at her with those dead fish eyes while she tried to do homework.

"We're both trapped, Swim Shady," she told it one night while Cornelius waited outside by the dumpster. "Just swimming in circles until someone remembers we exist."

Okay, that was dark. But it was also kinda true.

Then came the night everything changed. Some seniors from school rolled up to the gas station, being loud and annoying, and Riley saw them spot Cornelius. One guy pulled out his phone like he was gonna film something. And Riley just SNAPPED.

"Hey!" She marched outside with her orange hair wild and her/converse scuffed. "Leave him alone."

"Chill, it's just a—" The guy stopped. Actually looked at her. "Wait, you're Riley from AP English? You look... different."

"Yeah, well, I'm full of surprises."

She stood her ground. They left. Cornelius got his hot dog.

Later that night, Swim Shady was still doing laps in his bowl, and Riley realized something: maybe being the girl with orange hair who fed foxes behind a gas station wasn't the worst thing in the world. Maybe it was exactly who she was supposed to be.

She texted Maya: "Fox Den Friday tomorrow? Bring snacks."

Maya: "Only if you promise not to get rabies."

Riley smiled. She'd work on the rest later.