The Boy Under the Cap

The town of Millhaven, Ontario, was the kind of place where everyone knew your name — and your business — whether you liked it or not.

Caleb did not like it.

He walked the school hallway with his cap pulled low and his hair hanging over his face like a curtain he never planned to open. Brown and red strands fell past his jaw, covering most of his green eyes. He liked it that way.

"Move it," said a voice behind him.

He stepped aside without looking up. He already knew the hallway routine. Keep quiet. Stay small. Get to class.

He slipped into his seat near the window and stared at the parking lot below. His phone buzzed once — a text from his cousin Clyde: *"You coming by this week, bud?"*

Caleb stared at the message, then looked at his own reflection in the dark screen — all that hair, all that mess.

He didn't reply.

The Loudest Hallway

The bathroom by the gym was the quietest spot in Millhaven Secondary — or it used to be.

Caleb stood at the sink, running cold water over his wrists, staring at the floor tiles. His hair hung down in front of his face the way he liked it — a wall between him and everything else.

The door banged open.

"Oh, look." The voice was sharp and bright, like a coin hitting concrete. "It's the girl with the hat."

Her name was Foxy. She was thirteen going on forty, with a sleek black ponytail and gold hoop earrings, and she never walked anywhere alone. Behind her came Jaiden — tall, smirking — and Diamond, who laughed at everything Foxy said like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

"Seriously," Foxy said, tilting her head at Caleb's hair. "Are you lost? The girls' bathroom is down the hall."

Jaiden snorted. Diamond covered his mouth, shoulders shaking.

Caleb's jaw tightened. He grabbed his cap off the edge of the sink and pushed past them without a word — straight out the door, down the hall, and out the side exit.