Signal Lost

The hat was terrible. Like, genuinely offensive — a neon orange beanie with a pompom the size of a small planet. But it was the only thing covering the disaster that was my hair.

"You look like a traffic cone," Maya said, not looking up from her phone. We were supposed to be best friends, but ever since she'd started sitting with the popular kids at lunch, our conversations had become one-sided. I was talking into the void.

"Thanks," I said. "Really helpful."

I'd attempted to dye my hair blue last night because Tumblr said it would be "empowering." Instead, it turned into a patchy green nightmare that made me look like a swamp creature going through an emo phase. My mom freaked. My dad just sighed and said, "Hair grows back. That's what hair does."

I was still adjusting to the hat when I started running track. Not because I liked running — I hated it, actually — but because it was something to do after school while Maya was busy being cool with people who'd never understood our obsession with cryptid documentaries.

That's how I ended up at Jordan's house, trying to figure out why his Xbox wouldn't connect to the internet. Jordan was quiet, the kind of person who existed in the background of group projects. I'd barely spoken to him all year.

"It's the cable," I said, before I could stop myself. "The HDMI cable's loose. See?"

He looked at me, actually looked at me, like I was interesting. "How did you know that?"

"My dad's been installing cable since before I was born," I found myself saying. "I've been helping him since I was like, twelve. It's embarrassing, honestly."

"No," Jordan said, "that's actually kind of cool. You know how things work."

Something in my chest did a little flip.

We spent the next hour talking while his controller charged. About our dads' weird jobs, about how much we hated running but did it anyway, about how lonely it felt when friends drifted away into versions of themselves you didn't recognize.

"Your hair," Jordan said suddenly. "Under the hat. What happened?"

I told him everything — the blue dye fail, the hat situation, Maya's rejection. He laughed, but not meanly. Like he actually got it.

"I have red hair dye at home," he said. "Like, actually good stuff. My cousin does cosplay. We could fix it. If you want."

"Yeah," I said, for the first time in weeks feeling like maybe everything wasn't ruined forever. "I'd like that."

The hat stayed on, but something about the way he looked at me made me think that maybe, just maybe, I was ready to take it off.