Frizz and Friendship

Maya stared at her reflection, horrified. Her curly **hair**, usually her crowning glory, had gone rogue. The humidity had turned her bouncing coils into a frizz explosion that made her look like she'd stuck a fork in an electrical socket.

"This is literally a disaster," she groveled to her golden retriever, Max. The **dog** wagged his tail sympathetically, which somehow made it worse.

The Fall Fling was in three hours. Everyone would be there, including Jared, who'd finally noticed her yesterday in AP Bio. And she looked like a walking cotton ball.

Her mom burst in. "Mija, try this!" She held out a slice of **papaya**. "Your abuela swears by it. It's supposed to help with... well, everything."

"Mom, NO. I'm not putting fruit on my head."

"Just eat it! Trust me." Her mom's eyes sparkled with that scary confidence that meant she knew something Maya didn't.

Maya chewed skeptically. Sweet, weirdly peppery. Not terrible. But definitely not fixing this catastrophe.

Outside, thunder cracked. A storm was rolling in. Perfect.

At the dance, she hid near the punch bowl, tugging her hood up. Which was pathetic, honestly. But then—

"Hey. Nice hood."

It was that girl from her art class, what was her name? Riley? She had cool rainbow-streaked hair and always sat alone.

"Thanks," Maya said. "Going for the 'I definitely didn't just have a hair emergency' vibe."

Riley laughed. "Nailed it. My **friend** dared me to come talk to you, but honestly? I think your hood's cute. Better than my hair's been looking lately."

Maya lowered her hood. "You're just saying that."

"No, for real. This humidity? My hair's basically three different textures right now. It's a whole identity crisis per strand."

They both cracked up. And suddenly, Maya didn't care about Jared or perfect curls or fitting in.

A flicker of **lightning** flashed through the gym windows, illuminating everything for one brilliant second.

"Hey," Riley said. "Want to get out of here? There's this tapioca place—"

"Boba?"

"Obviously. They have papaya flavor."

Maya grinned, frizz forgotten. "Literally yes."