Fox Hair and Midnight Zombies

Maya tugged at her hair again. It was this wild, mane of red-gold that her mom called "fox-colored" but that Maya just called a disaster. At Camp Silverwood, week two, and she'd already spent more time fighting with her curls than actually making friends.

"Zombie marathon tonight!" her counselor announced. "All five Living Dead movies in the mess hall."

Maya's crush, Leo, raised his hand. His dark hair fell over his eyes as he grinned. "Absolutely. Ready to be completely dead by dawn."

Her stomach did that thing it always did when Leo looked her way. She raised her hand too, even though zombie movies weren't really her thing. She'd endure gore if it meant sitting near him.

The mess hall smelled like popcorn. Maya squeezed onto a bench between Leo and Chloe, whose bleach-blonde hair was straightened into submission. Chloe was everything Maya wasn't: confident, loud, already had a camp boyfriend.

"You look like a zombie," Chloe whispered as the third movie started. It was 1 AM and Maya had spent hours subtly fixing her hair every time she thought Leo might look.

On screen, zombies swarmed a farmhouse. Leo caught Maya's eye. "You holding up, Red?"

"Yeah. I'm good."

"Liar." His shoulder brushed against hers. "My hair used to be huge. My mom said it looked like a bear cub attacked my head every morning. I started getting buzz cuts in seventh grade."

Maya stared at him. "Really?"

"Yeah. But you know what?" Leo's voice dropped. "I kind of miss it. It was mine, you know?" He gestured at her messy curls. "Yours is actually kind of amazing. Fox fire. Sunset. It's not subtle, but it's beautiful."

Maya felt her face heat up. "I'm just used to my mom telling me to 'do something with it.'"

"Yeah, well, your mom's wrong." Leo stood up as the credits rolled. "Coming for s'mores? I heard they're bringing out the good chocolate."

Maya looked at her reflection in the darkened window. Her hair was a mess, curling in every direction, wild and fox-colored and completely uncontrolled. She let her hands drop to her sides.

"Yeah," she said, standing up too. "I'm in."

Outside, the air smelled like woodsmoke. Leo started a terrible joke about a bear and a fox, and even though it was dumb, Maya laughed until her sides hurt.

For the first time in two weeks, she wasn't thinking about her hair.