Goldfish Memory Snapchat Spy

Marcus pulled his beanie **hat** lower, trying to disappear into the cafeteria noise. Senior year was supposed to be epic, but honestly? Everyone was walking around like a **zombie** — dead eyes, phone-glued faces, surviving on caffeine and AP classes. Including him.

"Dude, you okay?" Jordan asked, sliding onto the bench across from him. "You look like you haven't slept since, like, Thursday."

"Haven't," Marcus muttered. His **hair** was basically a greaseball at this point, but who cared? The only person he wanted to notice him was currently sitting three tables away, laughing at something Marcus wasn't cool enough to be part of.

Since when did everything between them become weird? They'd been best friends since seventh grade, then sophomore year hit and suddenly he was invisible. Meanwhile, she'd transformed into someone who actually got invited to parties.

He'd become a total **spy** on her social media — pathetic, he knew. Every post, every story, every random sunset snapshot became data in his investigation of Why Things Changed. His therapist called it "doomscrolling." He called it research.

"Your goldfish died again?" Jordan followed his gaze toward Chloe's table. "Bro, you've been doing this for months. It's giving major creep energy."

"Shut up." Marcus turned back to his untouched lunch. "I'm not being creepy. I'm just... trying to figure out what shifted. Like, when did I become the NPC in her story instead of a main character?"

"You became an NPC when you stopped talking to her and started watching from a distance," Jordan said, way too wisely. "That's not being a spy. That's being a coward."

The words hit like a brick. Marcus was 17 and still afraid to have an actual conversation with someone he'd known since they were 12. Pathetic didn't even cover it.

His phone buzzed. Chloe's story updated — a picture of her old fishbowl, empty now. The caption: *RIP Goldie III. She had the attention span of, well, a goldfish, but she was vibe while she lasted.*

Marcus stared at the screen. Their inside joke, from three years ago, about how they both forgot everything that wasn't important. She still remembered.

"Jordan," he said, standing up and adjusting his hat. "I'm gonna go talk to her."

"Finally."

Marcus walked across the cafeteria, heart hammering. Not as a spy anymore. As someone who was done being invisible.

"Hey," he said, sliding into the empty seat beside her. "Heard about Goldie III. That sucks."

She looked up, and for a second, the awkwardness faded like it never existed. "You remembered."

"Of course I remembered," he said, and realized it was true. Some things, even goldfish memories, hold onto the stuff that matters.