Goldfish at the Party

Maya wasn't supposed to be at Jessica's party. Everyone knew Jessica and her crew were the type to post Snapchat stories with captions like "living my best life" while you sat at home doom-scrolling through TikTok. But here she was, clutching a red solo cup like it was a lifeline, watching her so-called best friend Sam laugh at something some guy said.

Sam had promised they'd stick together tonight, like usual. But apparently, "together" meant Sam chatting up the lacrosse team while Maya pretended to be fascinated by Jessica's fish tank.

"That's Goldie," said a voice behind her. Maya turned to find a guy with messy dark hair and an actual smile, not one of those fake ones people used when they wanted something. "I named her. Original, right?"

"Super creative," Maya said, then immediately regretted the sarcasm. But he laughed.

"I'm Leo, by the way. Jessica's cousin. You look like you'd rather be anywhere but here."

"Is it that obvious?" Maya groaned. "I'm not really a party person. My friend Sam dragged me here and then immediately abandoned me for someone with better hair."

"The struggle is real," Leo said. "I'm only here because my mom made me visit my cousin. I'd honestly rather be doing literally anything else."

They ended up sitting on the back porch, talking about everything from how weird high school social hierarchies were to Leo's conspiracy theory that the cafeteria's spinach was actually grown in a secret government lab. Maya hadn't laughed this hard in months.

Then her phone buzzed. Sam: "where r u??? jessica's doing karaoke u have to come see this"

Maya stared at the screen. This was her chance to slip back into her role as the supportive sidekick friend, the one who always showed up when Sam needed an audience.

Instead, she typed: "having a good conversation. catch u later" and put her phone away.

"Everything good?" Leo asked.

"Yeah," Maya said, and for the first time all night, it was actually true. She watched Goldie swim lazy circles in her tank, tiny and oblivious to everything else, and realized maybe that was okay. Maybe you didn't have to be running after everyone else's version of fun to find your own.

"Hey," Leo said. "You want to get out of here? There's this ice cream place downtown that's actually decent."

Maya grinned. "Absolutely. But we're taking the long way."