Goldfish in the Papaya

Maya's stomach did nervous backflips as she stared at the papaya sitting on the cafeteria table like some alien artifact. Her Abuela had packed it, along with a note that said "For my growing girl," but right now Maya just wanted to disappear.

"What IS that?" Chloe's perfect eyebrows scrunched up. The entire table went silent.

"It's... it's a papaya," Maya managed, feeling her face heat up. "My grandma grows them."

"Weird." Chloe turned back to her friends, and suddenly Maya was invisible again. Which was honestly fine with her, because she was still recovering from yesterday's disaster.

She'd spent twenty minutes talking to Jason, her crush since seventh grade, before someone finally told her she had a massive piece of spinach stuck in her braces. The mortification still lived rent-free in her head, replaying every time she tried to fall asleep.

"Hey." Jason slid into the empty seat beside her, and Maya's heart did that stupid fluttery thing it always did. He was wearing that beanie hat sideways—the one everyone copied because Jason made everything look cool.

"I saw you at the carnival yesterday," he said, popping a piece of gum. "Won that goldfish, right?"

Maya nodded, not trusting her voice.

"That was legit. My little sister's been begging for one since forever." He grinned, and she noticed—for the first time—that he had a tiny gap between his front teeth. "What'd you name it?"

"Goldie," she said, then immediately wanted to die. Really? GOLDIE?

But Jason just laughed. "Classic. My brother named his dog Dog. We're not exactly creative geniuses either."

He reached over, took a piece of her papaya without asking, and chewed thoughtfully. "Actually fire, though. My mom buys these sometimes. You gonna finish it?"

Maya slid the container toward him, something warm expanding in her chest. Maybe invisible wasn't so bad. Maybe papaya-eating, spinach-embarrassed, goldfish-naming people were exactly who she was supposed to be.

And maybe, just maybe, that was enough.