Goldfish & Lightning Strikes

The carnival lights blurred together as Maya tried to focus on anything but Tyler's hand brushing against hers. She'd been crushing on him since seventh period English when he'd doodled that sick dragon sketch in his notebook. Now junior year, and she was finally at the Fall Festival with him and their friend group.

"Yo, Maya! You gotta try this," Maya's best friend Jenna yelled, pointing at the mechanical bull ride. "Bet you can't stay on longer than two seconds."

Maya's stomach did that thing it always did when attention landed on her — like a swarm of angry bees. "Hard pass. I'll hold your stuff."

"Suit yourself." Jenna handed Maya her purse and climbed onto the bull while their friends whooped and started recording. Maya stood near the game booths, feeling like a goldfish in a bowl — small, transparent, and constantly observed.

That's when she saw it. The goldfish booth. A row of tiny plastic bags filled with water, each containing one fluorescent orange fish swimming in circles. The sign: WIN A PRIZE EVERY TIME.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Maya stepped up and tossed three ping pong balls. All three landed in different bowls. The carny handed her three bagged goldfish with a knowing smirk. "First pet?"

"Something like that," she said, but then Tyler was beside her, laughing at something on his phone. "Check this — Jenna just got absolutely destroyed by that bull."

The first flash of **lightning** split the sky, followed by thunder so loud the ground shook. The carnival lights flickered and died. People started screaming and running toward cover as rain began to hammer down.

"We gotta go!" Tyler grabbed Maya's hand, and they sprinted toward the parking lot with the others, Maya clutching three plastic bags of water with **goldfish** that were definitely not having the best night either. They huddled under the overhang at the entrance, breathless and soaked.

Tyler looked at the fish bags in her hands and started laughing. "Did you seriously win those? In the middle of a storm?"

"They needed rescuing," Maya said, then immediately cringed at how dorky she sounded. But Tyler was still laughing, and suddenly the knot in her chest loosened. "What? I'm basically a superhero."

"You're something, alright." His eyes met hers, and for three seconds, Maya forgot she was cold and wet and holding three plastic fish bags. The **lightning** flashed again, illuminating everything in harsh white light — Jenna sprinting toward them, drenched, their friends laughing somewhere, Tyler's ridiculously long eyelashes.

"Okay but seriously," Maya said, "who's gonna adopt these? I can't bring three **goldfish** home. My mom will lose it."

"I'll take one," Tyler said, and something in Maya's chest did that fluttery thing again, except different this time. Better.

Jenna reached them, breathless. "That **bull** threw me so hard I think I pulled something. Also, my phone is dead. We're trapped here until someone's parents come. We might need to eat those fish to survive."

"Gross, Jenna," Maya said, and Tyler's shoulder pressed against hers as they all huddled closer together, watching the storm light up the sky.

She'd thought tonight would be a disaster. Instead, here she was: cold, wet, holding three random fish, with Tyler's arm warm against hers, Jenna being extra as always, and somewhere in the chaos, Maya felt like she might finally be becoming the person she wanted to be.

The storm raged on, but for the first time in forever, Maya didn't want to be anywhere else.