Goldfish in the Blender

Maya's parents had dropped her off at Tyler's house with their signature goodbye line: "Remember who you are, sweetie." Meanwhile, Maya was trying to figure out exactly who that was supposed to be. Tonight's goal: survive her first real high school party without completely embarrassing herself.

The kitchen was already packed. Someone had set up a makeshift bar on the counter—orange soda in red solo cups, naturally. Maya grabbed one, mostly for something to do with her hands. Then she spotted him: Carter, the junior she'd been crushing on since August, currently surrounded by his friends like he was some kind of golden retriever who knew tricks.

"Yo, Maya!" shouted Chloe from across the room. "Wanna play Goldfish?"

The drinking game. Of course. Maya considered making an excuse about having to study, but that would've been social suicide. "Sure," she heard herself say, sliding into the circle on the floor.

She was losing spectacularly. Carter sat across from her, grinning like he knew something she didn't. On her fourth turn, she accidentally knocked over someone's cup, sending sticky orange soda everywhere. Her face burned. She could practically feel the spinach from earlier stuck in her teeth—she'd checked the mirror three times before leaving, but somehow that didn't stop her from worrying.

Then she noticed Harper, Carter's girlfriend, giving her this look. Pure fox energy: calculating, like she was deciding whether Maya was worth the trouble or just collateral damage. Harper was everything Maya wasn't—confident, put-together, seemingly immune to the crushing weight of wanting to belong.

"You good?" Carter asked, suddenly beside her with paper towels.

"Yeah, I'm—" Maya started, but then she really looked at him. Up close, she noticed the smudge of something green between his front teeth. Spinach, from whatever he'd eaten earlier. Suddenly he wasn't this untouchable god of high school hierarchy. He was just a guy with food in his teeth, playing drinking games in his friend's basement.

"You've got—" Maya pointed to her own teeth, trying to be subtle.

Carter's face went red. "Oh my god, seriously?"

"Yeah. But like, barely."

He laughed, actually laughed, and something shifted. The bull-headed pressure to be cool, to fit in, to survive this party unscathed—it all seemed a little less heavy. Harper rolled her eyes from across the room, but Maya found she didn't care as much anymore.

Maybe her parents had a point. Remember who you are. And maybe who she was, was someone who didn't need to play goldfish with the big kids to feel real.