Goldfish Days

The neon-orange hair dye had seemed like a brilliant idea at 2 AM during a TikTok spiral. Now, standing at the carnival goldfish toss booth while Tyler—actual Tyler with the perfect smile and varsity jacket—walked by with his friends, Mia wanted to evaporate.

"You gonna bear it all summer?" Jen whispered from the next booth, adjusting her fairy wings. "You look like a traffic cone, but like, in a hot way."

Mia snorted. "Thanks, bestie. Really selling it."

The summer job had been her mom's idea—"Build character, make friends, get out of your room." So here she was, surrounded by plastic bowls containing approximately fifty confused goldfish, watching teens live their best lives while she died inside every time someone made a carrot joke.

Then this kid in a black hoodie approached the booth. Not Tyler-hot, but interesting-hot. Messy dark hair, hands shoved in pockets, looking everywhere but at her.

"How much?" he mumbled.

"Three throws for five bucks."

He handed over a crumpled five. "I'm terrible at this. Just warning you."

"Same," she said, then winced. Why did she always say the most unhinged things?

But he smiled. Just a little.

His first ping-pong ball sailed wide. Second one bounced off the rim. Mia found herself actually rooting for him, which was ridiculous—she was supposed to want them to fail, that's how carnivals worked.

Third throw. It hit the water, and an orange goldfish—OF COURSE orange—darted away from the splash like it was personally offended.

"Oh my god, you actually got one," Mia said, scooping the fish into a bag. "Named yet?"

He looked at the fish, then at her hair, then back at the fish. "I was thinking carrot-related puns, but that feels too on the nose."

Mia laughed. "Good call. What about... Midas? You know, gold touch?"

"Midas," he repeated, testing it out. "I dig it. I'm Caleb, by the way."

"Mia."

They stood there for a moment, him holding his plastic bag with a living creature that would probably die in three days, her wondering if her armpits were sweating.

"So," Caleb said, rocking back on his heels. "I heard there's a firework show later. If you wanted to... I don't know, not stand behind a goldfish booth for it?"

Mia's heart did this embarrassing flutter thing. "I think I can make that happen."

Later, watching explosions light up the sky while Caleb made terrible puns about fish and fireworks and Midas probably getting weirded out by all the noise, Mia thought maybe the orange hair wasn't so bad after all. Sometimes the stuff that makes you want to evaporate becomes exactly what brings you back to life.

And okay, maybe she was being dramatic. But also, she was sitting next to a cute boy with a goldfish named Midas, and sometimes that's enough.