Sweaty Palms and Bear Costumes

My palms were sweating through the polyester bear costume. Again.

"You okay in there, Teddy?" yelled Marcus, our student body president, from outside the mascot head. I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Homecoming's not gonna wait for you to have a panic attack."

I squeezed the giant furry paws into fists and tried to breathe. The bear suit smelled like three years of teenage sweat and achievement-based desperation. How had I let Maya talk me into this? "It'll be fun," she'd said. "You'll finally get noticed," she'd said. She hadn't mentioned the part where I'd be suffocating in synthetic fur while my crush watched from the bleachers.

The crowd roared as our football team scored. I lumbered onto the field, doing the same awkward victory dance I'd practiced in my mirror for a week. Somewhere in the student section, Chloe was laughing. I'd know that laugh anywhere—light and musical, like she found everything genuinely hilarious instead of just politely amusing.

After the game—okay, after we lost by twenty-two points—I peeled myself out of the bear suit behind the bleachers. My hair was plastered to my forehead. I reached for my water bottle and knocked over someone's smoothie instead.

Green everywhere. All over my varsity jacket.

"That was spinach," said a voice behind me. Chloe. Of course it was Chloe. She wasn't laughing now. "My pre-game protein blend. I literally need that for cross country morning practices."

"I'll buy you another one," I stammered, wiping spinach from my sleeve. My palms were sweating again. "I mean, obviously. That's the least I could do. That was completely—"

"Teddy bear." She grinned. "That's you."

The heat spread from my neck to my ears. "You knew?"

"Only the whole school knows." She stepped closer and inspected the green stain on my jacket. "But you know what?"

She held out her hand, palm up. Smiling like she was about to tell me something incredible.

"What?"

"I've been waiting all season for the mascot to finally notice me. You're not exactly subtle in there." She winked. "Tomorrow morning. 7 AM. You're buying me that smoothie."

As she walked away, I looked down at my hands. Still a little sweaty. But somehow, that didn't seem to matter anymore.