Goldfish in the Deep End

The chlorine smell hit Maya before she even saw the pool. Taylor's end-of-year party. The one everyone had been talking about since April. Maya stood by the fence in her oversized t-shirt, clutching her towel like a lifeline.

"You coming in?" Taylor called from the water, surrounded by a shimmering circle of friends. "We're doing chicken fights!"

Maya forced a smile. "Maybe in a bit."

She couldn't swim. Not really. Not like these kids who'd been doing it since they were three. Back in the Philippines, her lola had taken her to the beach, but swimming lessons? They didn't have money for that. Here, everyone assumed everyone knew how to swim. Like it was genetic.

"Don't be a goldfish, Maya," someone yelled. Goldfish. That's what Jason called anyone who wouldn't dive in, wouldn't take risks. Goldfish had three-second memories. Goldfish stayed in bowls. Goldfish were boring.

Maya's face burned. She thought about the papaya tree in their backyard, the one her dad had planted their first month in America. "Someday," he'd said, "we'll have fruit." It had been three years. The tree was stubborn. So was she. But her dad still watered it every morning. Some things needed time.

Her phone buzzed. Her mom: "Having fun? We cut the first papaya. It's perfect."

Something in her chest unlocked. That stupid tree had finally done it. And here she was, still scared to try.

Maya dropped her towel on the lounge chair and waded in. The water bit her ankles. The shallow end felt like a different planet, everyone laughing and splashing in the deep end. Her heart hammered like it wanted out of her chest.

"Hey!" Taylor swam over. "You made it. We were just about to—"

"I don't know how to swim," Maya blurted. "Like, at all."

Taylor blinked. "Oh. That's... actually so many people don't. I literally should've asked. We can do shallow stuff. Or we can eat. My mom got those fruit platters."

Maya laughed, the tension breaking loose. "My dad literally just harvested our first papaya. I've been waiting three years for that fruit."

"Wait, seriously? That's actually kind of iconic."

Maybe goldfish weren't so bad. They kept swimming, didn't they?