The Girl Who Learned to Bear It

Maya's frizzy hair was already rebelling against the lakeside humidity, and summer camp had barely started. She tugged her baseball cap lower, desperate to hide the catastrophe happening on top of her head while everyone else at Pine Lake seemed effortlessly perfect.

"Swimming time!" counselor Jade announced, gesturing toward the shimmering water. Maya's stomach dropped. She hadn't brought a swimsuit—okay, she HAD, but the idea of exposing herself in front of strangers made her want to melt into the forest floor.

"You coming?" asked Skylar, this gorgeous girl with mermaid-worthy waves who'd been assigned to the bunk next to Maya's. "Or are you gonna sit there looking like you're about to throw up?"

Maya forced a laugh. "Yeah. Just. Yeah."

She grabbed her towel and basically speed-walked toward the lake, still contemplating a strategic escape. That's when she saw it—a massive black shape emerging from the woods between the girls' cabins and the main beach.

A bear. An actual freaking bear.

Maya didn't think. She didn't process. She just started running, sprinting back toward the cabins, screaming "BEAR!" at the top of her lungs.

Half the camp came running. Skylar. Jade. Three different counselors. Everyone converging on Maya's location, prepared for wildlife emergency protocol.

Except when they got there, the "bear" was just a really large black rock with a weird shadow.

"That's... not a bear," Jade said gently, while Maya stood there, hair wild from running, face burning hotter than the July sun.

Someone giggled. Then Skylar stepped forward, messing up her own perfect waves. "Dude, your cap fell off. Your hair is actually kind of iconic."

Maya reached up instinctively, but instead of fixing it, she pulled the cap completely off. Let her frizzy hair do its thing.

"Bear with me," she said, surprised by her own voice, steady despite everything. "But has anyone else noticed how good that lake looks?"

Skylar grinned. "Finally. I thought you'd never ask."