Goldfish in the Papaya Bowl

Maya's first real house party was definitely not living up to the hype. The bass thumped through the floorboards of what had to be the most expensive house in the suburbs, and she still felt like she was standing in the wrong dimension. Some senior—what was his name, Liam? Leo?—had already accidentally called her 'sphinx' because she'd been sitting in the corner staring at everyone like she was solving cosmic riddles instead of just trying to decide if she could sneak out without her friends noticing.

The papaya punch was definitely sketchy. Like, suspiciously bright pink. But everyone else was drinking it, so she grabbed a cup because apparently that's what you did when you wanted to look chill and not like the kind of person who still watched Pokémon with her little brother.

Then she saw him.

Caleb, the absolute bear of a human being who'd been in her English class since seventh grade, standing by the kitchen island like he was ready to fight for his life. But he wasn't fighting—he was carefully transferring something from a plastic bag into the enormous bowl of papaya punch.

"Dude, what are you—"

"Shh." His eyes were wide behind his glasses. "My mom's making me get rid of them. They're indoor carnival goldfish, Maya, they literally cannot survive outside."

She stared. "You're... releasing them into the punch bowl?"

"It's literally the closest thing to a pond in this house, okay?" The bass dropped and four orange fish swam obliviously through the fruit pieces. "Anyway, aren't you going to tell everyone I'm being weird?"

Maya looked at the kitchen doorway, where the popular kids were taking selfies. At the living room where her best friend was gesturing frantically for her to come over. At Caleb, whose face was slowly turning the same shade as his illegally-displaced fish.

"Nah," she said, dipping a finger into the punch. One curious goldfish nudged it. "I'm gonna help you find them a better home. My neighbor's got a pond. We can sneak them out in Solo cups."

Caleb grinned, and for the first time all night, Maya didn't feel like she was faking anything.

"Deal. But we're taking the long way out. I'm not trying to explain this to anyone."

"Bro, you don't have to explain anything. Just act mysterious. Lean into it."

"Like the sphinx of bad decisions?"

"Exactly."