The Hat That Changed Everything

Maya's gray beanie was basically fused to her skull at this point. Freshman year, she'd worn it so low teachers literally couldn't see her eyes. Now a junior, she still defaulted to hat-mode whenever things got weird. Which was, unfortunately, always.

"You're literally running away again," Jordan called from their locker, not even looking up from their phone.

"I'm NOT running away," Maya lied, already speed-walking toward the gym. "I'm just... efficiently relocating."

"Riiight. Efficiently relocating from your confrontation with Kai? Again?"

Maya's face burned. Kai had tried to talk to her after third period, and she'd basically teleported to the bathroom. Classic.

But today was different. Today was the day she'd finally do something about the coaxial **cable** dangling from her wall like a dead snake. Her dad kept saying he'd fix it, but that'd been literally forever. The internet in her room was basically urban legend status at this point.

She got home and stared at the cable. Why was this so hard? Just call the company. Just text Kai back. Just stop **running** from everything.

Her phone buzzed. Kai: hey, about earlier...

Maya's thumb hovered. Then she did what she always did: nothing.

Until she saw her reflection in the window. The **hat**. The armor. The excuse.

She yanked it off. Her hair was flat, her forehead shiny, whatever.

Kai: sorry i was weird. wanna hang at the fair this weekend?

Maya stared at the cable. Then at her phone. Then at the girl in the window who was done hiding.

Her fingers moved fast. yes. let's do it.

The cable could wait. Maya had things to do. People to see. A life to actually live.