Goldfish Memories

The morning after the party, I felt like a zombie. Three hours of sleep will do that to you. I dragged myself to the bathroom mirror and—yup. There it was. A bright green piece of spinach wedged between my front teeth, practically glowing with betrayal.

I'd spent half the night talking to Tyler at Maya's pool party, feeling all cool and confident, probably with spinach in my teeth the entire time. He'd asked if I wanted to go swimming, and I'd dramatically announced that I didn't have my suit.

"That's okay," he'd said, all cute and smiley. "We can just hang out."

We'd talked for hours. About everything. About his dead goldfish (RIP Captain Finbeard), about how he'd failed his driving test twice, about how sometimes he felt like he was just going through the motions like everyone else. It was the most real conversation I'd had with anyone since starting high school.

Now, staring at myself in the mirror, I wanted to disappear. Because here's the thing—Tyler had probably noticed the spinach. He'd definitely noticed. And he'd kept talking to me anyway.

My phone buzzed. Unknown number.

"Hey, it's Tyler. From Maya's party. You had spinach in your teeth all night btw." followed immediately by "lol jk sorry that was mean. Actually wanted to say I had fun. You want to get boba later?"

I stared at the screen. Then I typed back, "Only if you promise to tell me if I have food in my face this time."

"Deal," he replied.

Sometimes the most embarrassing moments become the ones that actually matter. The zombie feeling faded, replaced by something lighter, something like hope. Or maybe that was just the caffeine kicking in.