Mascot Confessions

Maya stared at the giant furry **bear** head in her hands. She'd lost a bet to Jake, and now she had to wear the school mascot costume during the homecoming pep rally. Her social life was officially over.

"You'll be fine," her best friend Chloe said, adjusting the polyester ears. "At least it's not like anyone can recognize you in there."

"That's not helping," Maya groaned, but Chloe was already scrolling through her phone, snickering at something.

Maya had another problem. She'd accidentally swiped right on super-cute senior Marcus on an anonymous dating app—only to realize afterward that she'd accidentally **cable**-connected her real Instagram profile to it. Her dms were probably blowing up right now with messages from everyone in homeroom.

The gym was already packed when Maya lumbered into the bear costume, sweating through her flannel shirt. The mascot had been through generations of students and smelled like locker room and old hopes.

She spotted Marcus by the bleachers, laughing with his friends. He was the kind of guy who probably never lost a bet in his life.

Then she noticed something. Someone was watching him—this quiet freshman named Leo, who sat at the back of her history class. He kept pretending to check his phone, but his eyes darted toward Marcus every time Marcus looked away.

Was he... **spy**-ing on him? Like, actually stalking him?

Maya shuffled closer, the bear head swaying with each step. She could hear Leo muttering something about "numbers" and "codes" into his phone. Okay, this was getting creepy.

Then Marcus caught her eye—or rather, the bear's eye—and grinned. "Hey, Bernie! Nice moves!" he called out. Bernie Bear was the mascot's actual name. Maya did an awkward little wave with a padded paw.

The pep rally started, and Maya spent the next hour dancing awkwardly in a suffocating synthetic fur suit while the cheerleaders led chants. But she kept watching Leo. He never took his eyes off Marcus, typing furiously on his phone.

Afterward, Maya escaped to the bathroom and peeled off the bear head. Her hair was plastered to her forehead. She looked like she'd survived a natural disaster.

Chloe burst in, phone in hand. "Okay, you're not gonna believe this. Leo is totally Marcus's biggest fan? He's the one who runs that fan account that tracks Marcus's basketball stats. He was literally live-tweeting the pep rally."

Maya blinked. "He wasn't... stalking him?"

"No! Just super obsessed with his stats. He even predicted Marcus would make varsity captain before anyone else knew. They're actually friends now? Leo's the team's unofficial statistician."

Maya's phone buzzed. A notification from the dating app: Marcus had matched back.

Chloe peeked over her shoulder. "Oh my GOD. That's—not weird at all."

It was totally weird. But maybe sometimes the things you think are creepy or embarrassing—like wearing a bear costume, or accidentally exposing your crush to the whole school—turn out to be the start of something good.

Maya pulled off the bear feet. She smelled like high school gym class and poor decisions.

And she couldn't wait to see what happened next.