The Fox Hat Night

Maya's dad called her a fox when she sneaked out at 2 AM, hoodie pulled low. She wasn't sneaking out to party though — she was chasing what she thought was an actual fox down the street, its orange tail flickering under streetlights like something from a dream.

Her ex-best friend Kayla would've said she was being weird. Kayla, who now sat with the popular crowd at lunch, laughing at jokes Maya didn't understand, wearing that hat Maya had given her for her birthday last year. The stupid orange cable-knit hat with the pom-pom that took Maya three months to learn how to make.

"You're too intense," Kayla had told her when they stopped speaking. "Everything's always so deep with you."

Whatever.

Maya followed the fox — or whatever it was — past the cable company building, where neon signs buzzed in the fog. She'd been doing this a lot lately: wandering her suburban town at night, phone on airplane mode, using an old iPod nano because she couldn't deal with the group chat notifications anymore.

The fox stopped at the edge of the woods behind the old elementary school. Maya stopped too, breathing hard, realizing she'd been running.

"Hey," someone said.

Maya jumped. A girl sat on the swing set, headphones in. It was Riley from her English class. Quiet Riley. The one who drew comics in the margins of everything and wore combat boots with gym shorts.

"That fox," Riley said, nodding toward the woods. "I've been trying to get a picture of it for weeks. It's super fast."

"I thought I was imagining it," Maya said.

"Nah." Riley pulled out a sketchbook instead of a phone. "Want to see?"

Maya sat on the swing next to hers. Riley showed her pages of drawings: the fox, the cable building at night, Kayla's hat sitting alone on a cafeteria table (Maya's stomach did a flip), different versions of Maya walking down the street.

"You noticed me?" Maya asked.

"You're interesting," Riley said, like it was obvious. "Everyone else at school is doing an impression of a person they saw on TikTok. You're just... out here. At 2 AM. Chasing foxes."

Maya laughed. She hadn't laughed in weeks.

"Want to help me find it again tomorrow?" Riley asked.

"Yeah," Maya said. "Yeah, I do."

The fox appeared at the edge of the woods, watching them. Maya took a picture this time, but she knew she'd remember this moment forever anyway.