The Bear Suit Friday

The polyester bear suit smelled like three years of middle schoolers' sweat and industrial deodorant spray. Marcus zipped it up over his clothes, his phone slipping from his hand onto the dressing room floor.

"Bro, you good?" Tyler asked, leaning against the doorframe. Marcus's best friend since fourth grade, the one who'd somehow talked him into taking the mascot gig for minimum wage and maximum embarrassment.

"My iPhone screen cracked," Marcus groaned. "My parents are gonna kill me."

"Bro, it's fine. Put it in your locker." Tyler checked his own phone. "Also, Haley's coming to the game tonight. You know, from English class?"

Marcus's stomach did that thing it always did when Haley's name came up—which was ridiculous, because she'd never spoken two words to him in her life. Meanwhile, here he was, about to spend three hours in a bear costume, cheering for a basketball team that had lost fourteen games in a row.

He shoved the cracked phone into his gym locker and grabbed the bear head. "This is my life now."

The game was torture. The mascot routine involved dancing to " Cotton Eye Joe" and high-fiving kindergartners. Marcus could feel the sweat pooling in his gloves. Every time the crowd cheered, he imagined Haley watching from the bleachers, seeing him do the electric slide in a polyester bear head.

At halftime, he collapsed onto a bench near the concession stand. That's when he saw Tyler and Haley talking by the bleachers. Haley was laughing, actually laughing, and Tyler was doing that thing with his hair where he pretended he didn't care.

Marcus's chest felt heavy. Not just the thirty-pound bear suit. Something else.

"Bear! Bear!" A little kid ran over and hugged his leg. Marcus sighed and patted the kid's head with his fuzzy paw.

Then his phone buzzed in his locker. He could feel it somehow, that phantom vibration in his pocket. But he couldn't check it. He was stuck. Alone in a crowd, wearing a fake bear head, watching his best friend talk to the girl he'd been crushing on for six months.

After the game—another loss, 48-32—Marcus dragged himself back to the locker room. Tyler was already there, holding a fraying charging cable.

"Dude," Tyler said. "I found your cable in my bag. Also, Haley was asking about you."

Marcus paused with the bear head halfway off. "What?"

"She asked who was in the bear suit. I told her it was you." Tyler shrugged. "She said it was actually kind of cool that you did it. Said she'd never have the guts to be a mascot."

Marcus stared at him. "She said that?"

"Bro, she thinks you're brave." Tyler held out the charging cable. "Also, your dad texted. Said you left your phone at home yesterday and he's been trying to reach you."

Marcus stood there, half-bear, half-human, sweat dripping down his face, and started laughing. He couldn't stop.

"What?" Tyler asked.

"I forgot my phone at home." Marcus wiped his eyes with his bear paw. "All day. I've been stressing about checking it, and it wasn't even here."

Tyler grinned. "Crazy, right? Maybe you should leave it at home more often."

"Maybe." Marcus pulled off the bear head. His hair was matted to his forehead. "But I'm never wearing this suit again."

"Come on." Tyler tossed him the cable. "Haley wants to go to that boba place on Main. You're coming."

Marcus looked at the cracked glass of his phone sitting in his locker. Then he looked at his friend, waiting by the door.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm coming."