Fox Fire

The party was already dead when I showed up in my dad's ridiculous trucker hat. I knew it was a mistake the second I walked through Tyler's basement door, but Jada dared me, and somehow refusing felt worse than looking like a complete loser.

"Nice hat, fox," someone called out. That was my nickname now, thanks to one time in sophomore year when I outsmarted the honors biology teacher's trick question. People said it like it was a compliment, but I could never tell if they were calling me clever or calling me out.

I spotted Jada across the room, her usual perfect mess of curls everywhere, laughing with Chris — the guy I'd been crushing on since September. My stomach did that thing where it simultaneously wants to explode and disappear completely. I adjusted the hat lower over my eyes, suddenly fascinated by the pattern on the carpet.

Then lightning flashed through the basement windows, bright enough to make everyone flinch. A second later, thunder rattled the floor.

"Power's out!" someone yelled.

The room plunged into darkness, and the only light came from people's phone screens. Someone started a slow, dramatic countdown before someone else would supposedly kiss someone. Middle school behavior, honestly, but in that moment, with the storm raging outside and my stupid hat making me sweat, I just wanted to vanish.

Instead, I felt someone sit down beside me on the couch.

"Your hat is actually kinda iconic," Chris said. I could barely see his face in the dim light. "Like, you're the only one not pretending."

I laughed, surprised. "I look ridiculous."

"Yeah, but you own it." His phone screen lit up his smile. "That's cooler than trying to be someone you're not."

The power flickered back on. Jada was grinning at me from across the room, giving me a tiny thumbs-up. And suddenly I wasn't the fox who was clever or the fox who was being called out. I was just me, in a ridiculous hat, possibly about to have my first real conversation with my crush.

"So," Chris said. "You want to get some air?"

I took off the hat, shaking out my hair. "Yeah. Let's go."