Goldfish in the Deep End

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her orange towel like a lifeline. The end-of-summer bash raged around her—music thumping, kids cannonballing, someone doing keg stands with sodas because apparently that was hilarious now. Maya, however, was stuck in her head.

"You coming in or what?" shouted Tyler, her crush since seventh grade, currently dripping wet and impossibly gorgeous. His hair was that perfect messy dark waves situation that made her stomach do embarrassing things.

"Yeah! Just, you know, warming up!" she called back, lying through her teeth. She wasn't warming up. She was freaking out.

The problem wasn't the water. Maya loved water. She was practically part mermaid, according to her mom. The problem was the social Olympics happening poolside, and Maya felt like she'd shown up to the wrong event. She was a goldfish in a tank of sharks—small, forgettable, seven-second memory span when it came to witty comebacks.

"Hey Maya!" It was Chloe, the queen bee of their grade, wearing this designer bikini that probably cost more than Maya's entire wardrobe. "Tyler was just telling us about that party. You going?"

Everyone was suddenly looking at her. The music seemed louder. The water Tyler was splashing around in sparkled like diamonds, mocking her.

"Uh, maybe?" Maya managed. "Not sure yet. My parents are... you know."

Smooth. Absolutely tragic.

Then she saw it: a tiny goldfish sticker on Chloe's phone case. Random, but it snapped something into place in Maya's brain. Goldfish were supposed to have terrible memories, but Maya remembered everything—every awkward moment, every fake laugh, every time she'd shrunk instead of standing tall.

Suddenly, Maya was done being the goldfish.

"Actually," she said, her voice steadier than she felt, "I'll definitely be there. Should be lit."

She dropped her orange towel on the lounge chair and ran toward the pool, screaming "CANNONBALL!" at the top of her lungs before hitting the water in a magnificent splash that drenched everyone—including Chloe.

Surface laughing, Maya caught Tyler's eye. He was grinning at her. Actually grinning.

"Finally," he said. "We were wondering when you'd show up."

Sometimes the only way to stop feeling small was to make a really big splash.