The Hat That drowned

My beanie was basically my personality. You know how some people have their hair, or their style, or their whole vibe? I had my hat. Black, slightly fuzzy, pulled low over my eyes. It was my armor against the world—or at least against sophomore year lunch period.

"You gonna wear that to Taylor's pool party?" Marcus asked, spinning a basketball on his finger. "Bro, it's ninety degrees."

"It's called fashion, Marcus. Look it up." But I was sweating just thinking about it.

The thing was, I hadn't taken my hat off in public since seventh grade. That's when my hair started doing this weird curly-frizzy thing that made me look like I'd been electrocuted. So the hat stayed on. Through gym class. Through family photos. Through that one time I accidentally went swimming with it on (it weighed approximately forty pounds wet).

Taylor's party was exactly as nightmare-inducing as I'd expected. Everyone was either in the pool or dramatically lounging on pool chairs like they were in a music video. I was positioned strategically under an umbrella, clutching my phone like it might save me from social interaction.

"YO ELLIS!" Taylor's brother Jaquan yelled from the diving board. "BET YOU WON'T RACE ME TO THE OTHER SIDE!"

"I'm good, I'm—"

"What's the matter? Scared you'll mess up your hair?" Someone I didn't even know called out.

The whole pool went quiet. People were looking. Not even looking, just—waiting.

And something in me just snapped. Maybe it was the heat, or the fact that I was tired of being the Hat Kid, or maybe I just wanted to know what would happen if I stopped hiding for once.

I yanked off my hat and threw it on a chair. My hair did its thing, exploding in every direction. I didn't look at anyone. I just started running.

"LAST ONE IN IS A—" I booked it toward the pool, hearing Marcus yell "SUCH A CAP" behind me, and I didn't even care. I hit the water in a spectacularly ungraceful cannonball, and when I came up, spluttering and wiping chlorine out of my eyes, everyone was cheering.

"About damn time," Taylor said, grinning from her pool float. "We've been waiting for you to join us for like, two years."

My hair was ruined. My hat was somewhere on dry land. I was pruning up like a raisin. And for the first time in forever, I didn't feel like hiding.