Orange Hair, New Game

Leo stood in front of the mirror, running a hand through his newly-dyed orange hair. It was supposed to be a subtle auburn. It came out traffic-cone bright.

"You look like a pumpkin," his little sister announced, not helping.

Leo yanked his baseball cap down low. First day of freshman year, and he was already going to be That Guy with the weird hair. The hat was his dad's old Mets cap—faded, bent brim, definitely not cool—but it was his safety blanket.

The bus ride was torture. He kept his head down, hoodie up, hat brim nearly covering his eyes. That's when he noticed Maya from his English class last year sitting across from him. She was staring. Great.

"Nice hat," she said.

Leo mumbled something. He felt ridiculous.

"Your hair," Maya continued. "Did you dye it orange?"

Leo considered jumping out the moving bus. "It was an accident."

Maya grinned. "It's kind of epic, though. Like, commitment?"

Leo blinked. He'd been expecting roast. He got... respect?

"I guess?"

"My cousin did blue last month," Maya said. " messed it up twice before she got it right. Hair color's tricky."

They talked the whole way to school. About baseball, about how nervous they were, about how everyone was pretending to be chill while freaking out inside.

When they got off the bus, Maya tapped his hat. "You know you're gonna have to take that off eventually, right?"

Leo's heart pounded. But he thought about it—really thought about it. The hair was done. Might as well own it.

He lifted the hat.

Maya nodded. "See? Not the end of the world."

Someone yelled, "Yo, orange hair! Freshman!"

Leo braced himself.

"Actually kind of sick!" the guy called. "What shade is that?"

Leo smiled. He adjusted his hat—pushed it back instead of hiding. "Accident," he said again. "But I'm keeping it."

Sometimes the things you think will wreck your day end up making it.