The Bear Truth

Maya's iphone clutched in her sweaty palm as she leaned against the chain-link fence, the aluminum biting into her shoulder. The Northwood High baseball team was losing 7-2, but nobody cared. The real show was happening behind the backstop.

"OMG," whispered Chloe, flicking her hair perfectly. "The new bear mascot is actually kinda cute."

"It's literally just someone in a costume," Maya muttered, but Chloe wasn't listening. She was already recording, her ring light illuminating the bear mascot's clumsy attempt to rally the crowd. The bear—some sophomore named Danny, apparently—kept tripping over his own enormous furry feet.

Maya opened her camera. This was it. The moment that would finally get her more than 234 followers on TikTok. Danny-the-bear caught a foul ball in his mouth. The crowd went WILD.

But as she zoomed in, she saw it. The bear head slipped off, and Danny's face was pure PANIC. Not funny panic—like, genuine terror. He scrambled to fix it, but the elastic snapped. The crowd went silent.

Maya's thumb hovered over the record button. This was IT. The viral fail of the year. #BearFail #MascotMeltdown would be trending by morning.

Danny met her eyes. His face burned red. He looked like he wanted to disappear.

Maya's chest tightened. She remembered last year, when someone had caught her tripping in the cafeteria and posted it. The comments. The endless memes. The way she'd wanted to vanish.

She lowered her iphone.

"What are you DOING?" Chloe hissed. "Post it!"

"Nah," Maya said, surprised at her own voice. "It's not funny."

Chloe stared at her like she'd grown three heads. "Whatever. Someone else will get it."

Nobody else posted it. Or if they did, it never went viral. Later, Danny found Maya by the concession stand.

"Thanks," he mumbled, not meeting her eyes. "For... you know."

"No big," Maya said, fidgeting with her phone case. "Being a bear seems stressful."

He laughed. "You have NO idea."

As they walked back to the bleachers together, Maya's iphone buzzed with notifications. Chloe had posted a "cute" filtered photo of them at the game. #Besties #BaseballSeason.

Maya didn't even like it. For the first time, she didn't care about the engagement. She glanced at Danny, now safely inside his bear head, dancing awkwardly to the stadium music.

Some things were better unrecorded.