The Bear in the Bathroom

Maya's heart raced as she gripped her iPhone in the school bathroom, her reflection staring back from the cracked mirror. The selfie she'd just posted—her wearing that vintage fisherman's hat she'd thrifted yesterday—had already gotten three likes. Pathetic.

"Hey, Maya!" Chelsea's voice echoed from outside the stall. "We're going to the food court. You coming?"

"Uh, yeah!" Maya called back, but her fingers were frozen on her phone screen. No new likes.

The hat had seemed like such a good idea at Urban Outfitters, but now she felt ridiculous. Like she was trying too hard to be someone she wasn't. Someone cool and vintage and aesthetic.

She stepped out of the stall and nearly jumped out of her skin. A lifesize cardboard cutout of a polar bear advertising some arctic-themed slushie loomed in the corner, its white muzzle slightly torn from years of bathroom encounters.

Maya stared at the bear. Its black eyes seemed judgmental. She adjusted the hat on her head, then yanked it off entirely. What was she doing?

"Hey."

Maya spun around. A girl from her history class—Raven?—stood by the sinks, adjusting her eyeliner in the mirror.

"Your hat," Raven said, gesturing to where Maya had dropped it on the counter. "Where'd you get it?"

Maya's stomach did that thing it always did when someone actually talked to her. "Um, Buffalo Exchange? Yesterday?"

"Sick." Raven finished her eyeliner and turned fully toward Maya. "I love that shop. Found this amazing leather jacket there last week."

"Oh, nice!"

They stood there for a second, and Maya almost grabbed her phone to check her likes again, but she stopped herself. "Want to go to the food court together?"

Raven grinned. "Sure. Let me just finish—"

"RAVEN!" Chelsea's voice cut through the bathroom door. "Did you fall in?"

"Coming!" Raven rolled her eyes at Maya. "Those girls are so extra."

Maya grabbed her hat off the counter. As they walked out together, she put it back on.

"You know," Raven said, "that hat actually looks really good on you. Like, not trying too hard. Just... right."

Maya smiled. Her phone buzzed in her pocket with a new notification, but she didn't check it. Some things were more important than likes.