Goldfish at Home Plate

Maya's mom had handed her the chewable **vitamin** with the morning lecture about 'healthy choices,' which felt rich coming from the woman who survived on iced coffee and stress. Now Maya stood at the edge of the swimming pool, clutching a plastic bag containing a carnival-won **goldfish** she'd named Stripe, watching the popular kids dominate the shallow end like they owned the concept of fun.

"You gonna stand there all day or actually get in?" said Carlos, sliding in from the **baseball** field across the street, jersey stained red from the game. He was the kind of cute that made Maya forget how to form sentences, which was unfortunate because he'd just asked her a direct question.

"I'm... guarding Stripe," Maya said, holding up the fish bag like it was a royal decree. Carlos laughed, and Maya felt her face burn hotter than the mid-July sun. She wanted to dissolve into the chlorinated **water** behind him, become one with the pool filters and never emerge.

"Your fish needs a friend," Carlos said, already wading deeper. "Coming?"

Maya hesitated. The social hierarchy of pool parties had always been clear: popular kids in the deep end, everyone else pretending to be perfectly fine on the sidelines. But Carlos was waiting. And Stripe was probably judging her from inside his bag.

She jumped in.

The shock of cold water erased everything—her awkwardness, her overthinking, the memory of being the last one picked for kickball in seventh grade. When she surfaced, Carlos was grinning.

"Finally. Took you long enough."

Maya set Stripe on the deck table, where the little fish swam in tiny, enthusiastic circles. For once, she didn't overanalyze what Carlos meant by that. She just splashed him back, realizing she'd been waiting for permission to start living all summer.

"My mom's gonna kill me if I don't feed this thing," she said.

"Worry about that later," Carlos said. "Right now, you're on my team for volleyball."

Maya looked at her fish, then at the deep end where the real life was happening. Screw the healthy choices lecture. Some things were more important than vitamins.