Goldfish in the Storm

Taylor clutched the plastic bag containing carnival-prize goldfish against her chest, the orange fish swimming frantic circles as she stood at the edge of Jessica's pool party. Somewhere inside, her crush Mason was probably being charming. Somewhere, her ex-best friend Chloe was probably spreading rumors.

Her iPhone buzzed with a notification: someone had tagged her in a story. Taylor tapped to see—Chloe, posing with Mason, captioned "finding Nemo at the pool lol." Like she even liked fish. Like Taylor hadn't been obsessed with aquariums since seventh grade.

"You spying again?" said a voice. Jordan, Chloe's older brother, sat on the diving board, legs dangling in the water. He had that terrifying older-brother energy, like he knew everything.

"Just checking my notifications," Taylor said, way too fast.

"Right." Jordan slid into the pool with a splash. "You know, goldfish have a three-second memory. That's scientifically wrong, but sometimes I wish I could forget stuff that fast."

Thunder rumbled. Taylor looked up—purple-dark clouds were rolling in FAST.

"Everyone out!" Jessica's mom yelled from the back door. "Storm's coming!"

The party chaos began. Taylor's fish-bag swished violently as she dodged running sophomores. Then—CRACK. Lightning struck the oak tree in the front yard, close enough that the air tasted like ozone.

"YOUME!" Jordan shouted over the thunder, pointing at Taylor. "Your fish!"

What? The goldfish was literally fine. But then she saw it: the plastic bag had a TEAR. Water was leaking everywhere, fish flopping onto concrete.

Taylor dropped to her knees, scooping the fish into her hands. It wriggled against her palms, heartbeat-fast. She needed water—ANY water. The pool. But she couldn't swim with a fish in her hands, could she?

Jordan was already there, hands cupped together. "Give it here."

Taylor paused. Trust the guy who called her out for spying? But the goldfish was literally dying in her hands.

She dumped the fish into Jordan's palms, and he dove—smooth, perfect—into the pool, surfacing seconds later with the goldfish swimming happily between his cupped hands.

"Thanks," Taylor said, breathless.

"No problem." He treaded water, lightning flashing behind him like dramatic movie lighting. "Also, for what it's worth? Chloe's only posing with Mason to make someone jealous. And it's not you."

Taylor's heart did this actual flippy thing. "Wait—"

"I'm saying," Jordan said, grinning, "you should probably put your phone away and actually talk to people. Including me."

The storm broke open. Rain poured down like the universe was washing away the awkward, and Taylor laughed, really laughed, for the first time all summer.