Goldfish Operations

Maya pulled her beanie **hat** down lower, covering the disastrous fringe she'd attempted to trim herself at 2 AM. Why did she think watching YouTube tutorials qualified her for DIY haircuts? Now she looked like a deranged squirrel.

She hovered by the bleachers, **iphone** clutched like a lifeline, watching Jayden laugh with his friends across the gym. Ever since the homecoming game, things had been weird between them — not that there was a "them" to begin with. But that moment when he'd helped her pick up spilled books? That lingering smile? It meant something, right?

Or maybe she was reading into everything like usual. Her brain was basically a **goldfish** — three seconds of confidence, then flush, restart, panic again.

"You good?" Chloe appeared beside her, holding out a bright orange gummy **vitamin**. "My mom says these cure existential dread. Or at least make you poop regularly."

Maya snorted. "I'm fine. Just conducting covert operations."

"You mean **spy** on Jayden from forty feet away?" Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Bold strategy."

"It's not spying, it's... gathering intel." Maya's thumb hovered over his contact. "Should I text him?"

"Girl, you've been debating this for three days. Either slide into those DMs or delete the number. The uncertainty is literally killing me." Chloe popped the vitamin in her mouth. "Life's short. Take the L or take the W."

Maya took a breath. She adjusted her hat, feeling less like hiding now. She typed: "Hey, wanna grab boba later?"

Send.

Across the gym, Jayden's phone buzzed. He looked down, then up, scanning the crowd until his eyes found hers. He grinned.

Maya's heart did something vaguely illegal. Maybe goldfish memories weren't so bad after all — sometimes, you just needed to forget the fear and remember you were brave enough to jump.