The Hair Incident

Maya stared at the bottle of biotin supplements on her desk—her mom's latest attempt to fix everything. "These vitamins will help, sweetie," she'd said, but the pills sat untouched, mocking her.

The problem wasn't her hair. Okay, maybe partially. She'd buzzed it two weeks ago, a spontaneous post-breakup decision that felt empowering at 2 AM but significantly less so when she walked into homeroom on Monday. The stares. The whispers. Jordan asking if she was "going through something."

Now she was hiding in the bathroom during lunch, palm pressed against the cool metal of the stall door.

"You good in there?"

Maya recognized Riley's voice through the door.

"Fine. Just needed a minute."

"Cool, cool. I have a Snickers if you need to bear the hunger until sixth period."

Despite everything, Maya smiled. Riley always knew what to say. She opened the door.

Riley was leaning against the sink, earrings catching the fluorescent light. "So, Jordan was looking for you."

"Great."

"Actually, yeah. He wanted to say he thinks the hair looks cool. Said you look like a main character."

Maya blinked. "Seriously?"

"Bro, I wouldn't lie about Snickers AND compliments in the same conversation." Riley's grin was genuine. "Also, my cousin's doing this pop-up gallery thing next weekend. She needs people to model. You should come."

"Me? Model?"

"You've got the face for it. The hair adds edge. Very editorial." Riley held out a crumpled flyer. "No pressure. But if you're tired of bearing the weight of other people's opinions, this might be a vibe."

Maya looked at the flyer, then at her reflection in the mirror. The buzz cut wasn't a mistake. It was a choice. Her choice.

"I'll think about it," she said, finally meeting Riley's eyes.

"Sweet." Riley checked her phone. "Bell's gonna ring. You coming?"

"Yeah." Maya grabbed the bottle of vitamins from her pocket—she'd been carrying them around like a talisman—and dropped them in the trash. "Let's go."