But he was no longer the only one.
Behind him stood nearly the entire soccer team.
Every boy had shaved his head.
Some had neat, smooth scalps. Others had uneven patches where they had clearly attempted the job themselves. One boy still had a narrow strip of hair above his ear that everyone kept pointing at and laughing about.
Coach Daniels stood among them, also bald, rubbing the top of his head dramatically.
Two teachers were there as well.
Even the young hospital chaplain had joined them. He stood near the window, smiling as he ran a hand across his freshly shaved scalp.
For a moment, I could only stare.
Nurse Maria held up her phone.
“You should see the recording,” she said.
She showed me a video taken only minutes earlier.
One at a time, the boys had entered Lily’s room wearing hats.
Aaron had stood beside her bed and said, “You told me I looked strange without hair, so I brought some people who could make me look normal.”
The first teammate removed his cap.
Then another.
And another.
Lily’s eyes had widened with each reveal.
By the time Coach Daniels entered and bowed dramatically, she had begun laughing so hard she was crying.
In the video, Aaron never asked for applause.
He never gave a speech.
He simply stood beside Lily, smiling as person after person showed her that she was surrounded.
I turned toward him.
“You arranged all of this?”
His cheeks reddened.
“I started asking people a couple of weeks ago.”
“A couple of weeks?”
He nodded.
“I knew Lily’s hair was going to fall out, and I
