Goldfish in the Deep End

The cable modem was dead. Again. Maya glared at the blinking lights, knowing her livestream was probably buffering into oblivion for her 47 followers. The pool party raged outside her window — the reason she'd agreed to let her crush Jake use their backyard in the first place.

"You coming out?" Jake yelled from the pool deck. His hair was wet, pushed back in that annoyingly perfect way that made Maya's stomach do backflips.

"Be there in a sec!" she called back, grabbing the sandwich she'd made herself. Spinach and cream cheese, mom's specialty. She'd barely taken a bite when her phone buzzed.

"Cable's out, everyone's asking for the wifi password," Jake messaged. "Can you restart the router?"

Maya sighed, chewing and running downstairs. She was crouched by the entertainment center, yanking cables, when it hit her — something was wrong. Not wrong like router wrong. Wrong like spinach-in-your-braces wrong.

She bolted to the bathroom mirror. Green bits. Everywhere. Two years of orthodontia and this is how it ended?

"MAYA! Emergency!" It was Chloe, her best friend since third grade, practically breaking down the bathroom door. "Jake's cousin brought a goldfish in a bag from that carnival downtown and someone knocked it into the pool! It's swimming with the — wait, why are you crying?"

"Spinach," Maya whispered. "In my braces. For like, twenty minutes."

Chloe stared at her. Then burst out laughing. "That's it? Girl, I thought you died." She dug through her pocket, pulled out floss. "Fix your teeth. Then help us save Nemo."

Outside, chaos reigned. A dozen teenagers were splashing around, forming a goldfish rescue committee. Jake was already in the pool, shirt off, carefully cupping the tiny orange fish.

"Got it," he said, handing the bag to Maya. Their fingers touched. Spinach-free braces and all.

"Thanks," she said, suddenly aware of her frizzy hair, her damp shirt, the way her heart was racing.

"For what?" Jake grinned. "Saving Steve?" He'd named the goldfish Steve.

"For everything," Maya said, and this time she didn't look away.