Split Ends and Showdowns

Maya's hair was supposed to be cascading beach waves. Instead, three hours before homecoming, it looked like she'd stuck her finger in an electrical socket. Her sister Kai, supposed hair expert and currently useless FaceTime consultant, was no help.

"Just own it, chica. It's giving chic disaster."

"Chic disaster isn't a vibe, Kai."

The Northside Bulls were going to annihilate Ridgeview tonight—no offense to the Bears, but Ridgeview hadn't won the rivalry game in six years. Everyone expected the Bulls to roll over them like clockwork. Maya wasn't even going, but here she was, crying over split ends and missed opportunities.

Her phone buzzed. Marcus, the cute Bears linebacker she'd been crushing on since bio lab, wanted to know if she was hitting the after-party.

"Your hair looks different," he'd said earlier in the hallway, which could mean anything from "different bad" to "different good" and Maya had spiraled into a full hair emergency.

Kai sighed through the phone. "Maya, you bear the weight of the WORLD on your shoulders. It's HAIR. It grows back. Also, Marcus literally likes you for your brain, which is weird but valid."

"BEAR? Did you just say bear?"

"I'm being philosophical!"

Maya stared at herself in the mirror. The truth was, she'd spent so much time worrying about looking perfect that she'd forgotten to actually, you know, talk to Marcus. About anything. She'd frozen up every time he tried to start a conversation, too busy obsessing over whether her eyeliner was symmetrical.

Her stuffed bear from childhood, Mr. Cuddles, watched from her bookshelf. When she was seven, she'd made him a tiny Ridgeview jersey. When she was seven, she'd also believed that if she wanted something bad enough, she could just take it.

The rivalry game tonight. The after-party. Marcus.

Maya grabbed her phone.

"You're right," she told Kai. "About the philosophy part, not the chic disaster part."

She pulled half her hair back, left the rest wild, and grabbed her beat-up Bears sweatshirt—the one Marcus had complimented weeks ago, before she started overthinking everything.

Northside might crush Ridgeview tonight. The Bulls might dominate the field like everyone predicted.

But Maya wasn't sitting this one out.

"Game on," she whispered to Mr. Cuddles, and headed for the door.