Code Name Goldfish

The text from Maya's phone glowed orange against her bedroom ceiling. 3:47 AM. Again.

"You're losing it," she whispered to herself, though her pet goldfish Bubbles seemed to disagree, floating near the glass with that eternal look of judgment only a fish can pull off.

For two weeks, Maya had been basically a spy. Not the cool Netflix kind with gadgets and leather jackets—more like the "refreshing Instagram every thirty seconds" kind. Because Lucas, her lab partner since seventh grade who'd suddenly gotten hot over summer break, had been posting weirdly cryptic stuff. Sunset pics. Mysterious song lyrics. A photo of some orange vans parked by the beach.

Her friends said she was overthinking it. "Not everything is about you, Maya," Jen had said earlier that day, simultaneously not getting it and getting it too hard.

But at 3:47 AM, Maya discovered the truth.

Lucas had posted a new story—a close-up of a goldfish sticker on a notebook, captioned "Operation: Find Her."

Her. HER.

Maya nearly launched herself off her bed. Bubbles swam away, unimpressed.

The next day at school, Maya practically vibrated through first period. She spotted Lucas at his locker, wearing that orange hoodie she'd pretended to hate but secretly loved because it made his eyes look golden-brown.

"So," she said, leaning against the locker next to his, trying to look casual and failing. "Interesting sticker."

Lucas jumped. "You saw?"

"I'm basically a spy now," she said. "What's the mission?"

He turned the color of his hoodie. "I lost my lab notebook. The goldfish sticker—my sister put it on there in fourth grade, and I was hoping..." He rubbed his neck. "Hoping you'd seen it. Since we sit together every day."

Maya's brain stopped working. "Wait. You weren't..."

"Wasn't what?" Then he laughed, all awkward and genuine and annoyingly perfect. "Unless you found it? Because I'm literally failing without my notes."

"I haven't seen it." She paused. "But I'll help you look."

"Cool," he said. "Thanks. Also, you look really nice today."

Later that night, Maya fed Bubbles an extra pinch of flakes. "Don't get excited," she told the fish. "But I think this might be the start of something."

Bubbles just ate and swam in circles, which felt pretty accurate, honestly.