Goldfish & Ghosting

Maya's phone buzzed. *Hey, wanna hang at the fair tonight? - Liam*

She'd been waiting for this all week. Liam, the cute junior who sat behind her in bio, finally noticed her existence beyond being 'the girl with the detailed lab notes.' *Yes!* she texted back, then immediately regretted using the exclamation mark. Too eager. *

Five hours later, nada. No follow-up. No 'here in 10.' Just silence. He'd ghosted. *

Her mom poked her head into Maya's room. "Everything okay? You've been doomscrolling for twenty minutes."

"Fine," Maya muttered, though nothing was fine. Her cat, Mochi, chose that moment to saunter in and vomit on her rug.

"Great. Thanks, Mochi."

"At least clean that up," her mom said. "And remember—your little brother's goldfish needs feeding before we leave."

Maya's family was going to her aunt's house for dinner. Maya bailed, claiming 'too much homework,' but really she just didn't want to answer questions about why she looked like she'd been crying over a boy who'd never actually been her boyfriend.

Alone in the house, Maya did what any self-respecting sixteen-year-old would do: she decided to cook something 'grown up' to prove she was totally fine and independent. She found a bag of spinach in the fridge and decided to make herself a sophisticated salad.

Ten minutes later, smoke was billowing from the microwave.

"Who puts spinach in the microwave?!" she yelled at herself, fanning the smoke detector. *

That's when her phone lit up again. *

*Sorry!! My phone died and I left my charger at school. You still down?*

Maya stared at the text. Was he for real? Or was this just more games? *

She looked around her kitchen: burnt spinach, cat puke on her bedroom floor (still uncleaned, Mochi glaring judgmentally from the counter), a fish swimming obliviously in its cloudy bowl. *

And honestly? She was tired of playing it cool. *

*Phone died in 2026? Really?* she typed. *

*Lol okay deserved that. My bad. Seriously though—carnival rides, my treat?*

Maya sighed. She'd figure it out. Maybe. First, the goldfish. Then the spinach mess. *

Maybe—just maybe—boys weren't worth the stress. *

But she'd probably go anyway. Because Liam was cute, and she was sixteen, and apparently that was enough for now.