Lightning Hair Summer

Maya's hair was supposed to be the perfect shade of sunset purple. Instead, it came out electric blue — like a lightning bolt had struck her skull and decided to stay.

"It's not that bad," Chloe said, but she was clearly suppressing a laugh.

"I look like a Smurf who joined a punk band," Maya groaned, pulling her dad's baseball cap down low. The hat smelled like old cologne and garage, but it hid the disaster.

Summer camp orientation started in twenty minutes. Her cabin mates would be strangers. She needed to be mysterious, cool, intriguing — not "hair dye victim." The hat stayed.

The first week went okay. Maya became "Hat Girl" — mysterious, quiet, never taking it off, even during swim time (she claimed she was "sun-sensitive," which everyone bought because she was pale enough to reflect light). She even started talking to Jace, the cute guitarist with crooked teeth and a smile that made her stomach do little backflips.

Then came the overnight camping trip.

The woods were dark enough that Maya finally took off her hat, letting her blue hair catch moonlight. She was sitting with Jace by the fire, roasting marshmallows, actually feeling cool for once.

"So what's under the hat?" he asked.

"My darkest secret," she said, then — impulsively, wildly — pulled it off.

Jace stared. Then he grinned. "Your hair is sick. It looks like... like actual lightning caught in hair form."

"It was supposed to be purple."

"Purple is basic. This is next level." He reached out, then stopped. "Can I?"

She nodded. He touched a strand gently, like it might zap him.

"See? Lightning."

A sound came from behind them. A huff, a snort, the crack of branches.

Maya scrambled up, heart hammering. "Bear."

"What?"

"BEAR."

The counselor had gone over this. DON'T RUN. STAY CALM. MAKE YOURSELF BIG.

Maya grabbed the hat from the ground and waved it wildly. "HEY! GO AWAY!" she shouted, trying to make herself huge. "THIS IS MY HAT AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!"

The bear blinked at them from thirty feet away, then huffed again and lumbered off.

Maya stood there, heart racing, holding her dad's baseball cap like a weapon, electric blue hair wild around her face. Jace was staring at her like she'd grown a second head.

"You just..." He started laughing. "You just threatened a bear with a hat."

"I panicked!"

"That was literally the most badass thing I've ever seen."

He reached for her hand, and his fingers were warm. "Lightning hair and bear-fighting skills. Maya, you're not mysterious. You're actually insane."

"Is that good?" she asked, breathless.

"It's better."