The Bear Hat Incident

The first day of junior counselor training at Camp Wabanaki, I learned three things:never wear your favorite **hat** during orientation, the camp mascot costume smells like decade-old sweat, and sometimes humiliation is just part of the character arc.

I'd found this vintage snapback at a thrift store—navy blue with a patched bear logo, giving main character energy if I do say so myself. Wore it everywhere. Until Drew, the senior counselor who was basically camp royalty, announced that whoever lost the morning **running** race had to wear the mascot costume during family visiting day.

"What's the big deal?" I whispered to Maya, who'd been assigned to the same cabin of twelve-year-olds. "It's just a fuzzy **bear** costume."

Maya gave me that look. "Bro, have you SEEN the costume? It's literally cursed. Last summer, Jake wore it and got caught on video falling into the lake. Still lives on TikTok."

Spoiler: I lost the race. My cardio was basically nonexistent after a winter of stress-eating and my mom making me take these massive **vitamin** supplements that tasted like chalk and broken dreams.

The incident happened during the camp talent show. I was sweating inside that bear costume, blindingly hot, stumbling through what was supposed to be a choreographed dance. Then someone tripped me. I careened forward, knocking over the entire snack table, sending fruit punch and chips everywhere. The costume head rolled off. There I was, hair plastered to my forehead, my precious hat crushed underneath thirty pounds of synthetic fur.

Complete. Social. Execution.

But then—Drew started laughing. Not mean laughing, but actual cracking up. "Okay, that was legendary," he said, offering me a hand. "10/10, would watch again."

The campers went wild. Someone started a chant: "BEAR BOY! BEAR BOY!"

Later, after the obligatory cleanup, I sat on the dock with Maya, watching the sunset over the lake where we'd be teaching **swimming** lessons starting Monday. "That could've been worse," she said, tossing me a slightly squashed granola bar. "At least you're memorable now."

"My hat is dead though."

"Buy a new one. You're basically camp famous anyway." She paused. "So, Bear Boy, want to get breakfast tomorrow? Before the campers wake up?"

I grinned. My character arc was weird, but it was mine.