Deep End Goldfish

The pool party at Tyler's house was already giving me major anxiety, and I'd only been here twenty minutes. Between the tiktok-worthy playlist blasting at full volume and everyone acting like this was some casual hang when we all knew it was a ranked social event, I was ready to dip.

I found myself hovering near the snack table, where a sad little goldfish in a plastic bowl was basically having the worst night of its life. Someone had probably won it at the carnival earlier and decided it was party decor now. The fish kept swimming in tight, frantic circles, looking as out of place as I felt.

"That fish is literally me right now," a voice said beside me.

I jumped. It was Marcus—thequiet, cute guy from my English class who I'd been lowkey crushing on for months. He was actually talking to me.

"Same," I managed, trying to play it cool while internally screaming. "What's it even doing here?"

"Someone brought it as a joke."

We both watched the goldfish continue its anxious laps. Something about seeing Marcus stand there looking almost as awkward as I felt made me brave.

"We should do something," I said. "Like, it's kind of messed up to leave it here with all the noise and people."

Marcus's eyes lit up. "I have a better tank at my house. Like, actually. I can take it."

"Bet."

What followed was possibly the weirdest fifteen minutes of my life: me and Marcus, very carefully carrying a goldfish bowl through Tyler's crowded house while random people gave us confused looks, then Marcus's mom driving us both to his house to transfer the fish to its new home. We ended up sitting on his bedroom floor for an hour, watching the goldfish explore its properly sized tank and talking about everything—school stress, how fake pool parties were, his obsession with marine biology.

By the time we got back to Tyler's, most people had already moved to the actual swimming pool, but I didn't even care. Marcus and I hung out by the water, neither of us exactly swimming but both of us finally comfortable.

The goldfish was safe in its new home, and somehow, without trying, I'd found exactly where I belonged.