Hat Trick

Leo's vintage Yankees cap sat low on his forehead, his security blanket in a school where everyone already seemed to know who they were supposed to be. Three weeks in, and he was still the new kid—still running on that treadmill of trying too hard and simultaneously not caring at all (fake it till you make it, right?).

Then he found the dog.

A scrawny terrier mix behind the padel courts, all big eyes and matted fur. The courts were where the popular kids hung out—Jace and his squad, with their expensive rackets and matching outfits. Leo had watched them from a distance, calculating angles of social interaction like geometry problems he couldn't solve.

The dog limped. Leo's heart did that annoying teenage thing where it hammered against his ribs like it was trying to escape.

"Hey buddy," he whispered, dropping to his knees. The dog inched forward, sniffing his hand. Leo forgot about his carefully curated indifference. He forgot about Jace and the squad watching from the padel courts, probably laughing at the weird new kid talking to a stray.

He sacrificed his hat.

It was his dad's—well, his dad before he bailed. The hat was basically a personality at this point, but Leo wrapped the dog in it, scooped up the trembling bundle, and started running toward the animal clinic three miles away because his phone was dead and he didn't have anyone to call anyway.

His legs burned. His lungs felt like they were filling with something sharp and thin. The dog's head rested against his chest, and Leo thought, absurdly, that this was the most honest connection he'd made since moving here.

He didn't hear Jace calling after him. Didn't realize the squad had followed.

"Yo! New kid!"

Leo kept running.

"WAIT UP!"

He slowed, confused, turning to find Jex—Jace's sister, actually—jogging behind him with her padel racket still in hand. She wasn't laughing.

"My mom's a vet," she said, falling into step beside him. "Hop in."

Later, sitting in the clinic waiting room, the dog safely in back, Jex offered him her phone. "You need a ride home? Or do you, like, wanna stay here being a hero?"

Leo touched his bare head, feeling weirdly exposed. Then he smiled—genuinely, for the first time in weeks.

"What's your name anyway?" she asked.

"Leo."

"Well, Leo," Jex said, "you play padel? Because we're down a player tomorrow, and honestly? You seem like you could handle the pressure."

Leo's hat was gone, but somehow, he'd never felt more like himself.