Goldfish Don't Drown

The notification lit up my iphone screen like a spotlight. *POOL PARTY @ MIA'S — 3pm*

I stared at my reflection. New swimsuit, check. Hair that actually looked good for once, check. Anxiety level: catastrophic.

"You coming?" Maya yelled from downstairs. "We're gonna be late!"

"Yeah, yeah, hold up," I called back, grabbing my towel. My stomach did that thing where it felt like I'd swallowed a bunch of goldfish whole.

Mia's house was already packed when we arrived. Kids from school everywhere, smelling like coconut sunscreen and chlorine. I spotted him immediately—Jayden, leaning against the fence, orange soda in hand, laughing at something. My heart started running laps around my ribs.

"You're staring again," Maya whispered.

"Am not," I lied, grabbing a drink and heading toward the pool's edge. The water shimmered blue, spotted with floating inflatable unicorns and what looked suspiciously like someone's lost goggles.

Then it happened.

Someone shoved me from behind—playfully, I guess, but suddenly I was airborne, then submerged. The world went silent and blurry. I surfaced, gasping, to everyone laughing.

"Who pushed me?" I sputtered, wiping water from my eyes.

"Relax, it was an accident," someone said.

But my phone. My BRAND NEW iphone. It was in my pocket. I scrambled to check it, but the screen was already glitching, colors swimming like a dying goldfish.

"Oh my god, are you kidding me?" I practically shouted. All eyes on me. All those eyes. Jayden's eyes.

And that's when I just lost it. Not crying-losing-it, just—I don't know, something snapped.

"You know what?" I announced to everyone, possibly at too high a volume. "You know what?" I repeated, like I was about to say something profound. "You know what? GOLDFISH have a longer attention span than you guys."

Total silence. The kind where you can hear the pool filter humming.

"What?" Jayden asked, confused but smiling a little.

"I said what I said," I said, suddenly feeling ridiculous and powerful at the same time. "My phone is dead. My dignity is questionable. But you know what? I'm here, I'm wet, and I'm NOT going to spend the whole time staring at Jayden like a freaking goldfish in a bowl."

Maya's jaw dropped. Jayden's grin got wider.

"At least you didn't call him out by name," she whispered.

I was mortified. I was euphoric. I was alive.

Later, while everyone was playing chicken fight in the pool, Jayden swam over.

"So," he said, water dripping from his hair. "About that goldfish comment."

"Please don't," I groaned, dunking my head underwater to hide my red face.

When I came up, he was still there. "It was actually kind of iconic. You want to get orange sodas and make fun of everyone else?"

I nodded. "Most definitely."

My phone was ruined. My social standing was questionable. But somehow, floating there as the sunset turned everything orange and gold, I felt like I was finally swimming in the right direction.