Goldfish & Papaya at the Zombie Pool Party

Maya stood at the edge of Tyler's pool, clutching her papaya smoothie like it was a lifeline. The July heat was already messing with her hair—those cute beach waves she'd spent forty-five minutes perfecting had frizzed into something resembling a electrocuted poodle.

"You gonna swim or what?" Tyler called from the diving board. His hair was perfect, obviously. Tyler's hair was always perfect, even when he'd been swimming for three hours.

Maya's stomach did that thing it always did when Tyler spoke to her—part flutter, part nausea. She'd been low-key crushing on him since seventh period science, when he'd let her borrow his pen and smiled like she wasn't invisible.

"Maybe," she managed, taking a sip of her smoothie. The papaya tasted weirdly like summer and confidence at the same time.

Inside the house, someone had put on a zombie marathon—classic Tyler party move. His friends loved that stuff. Maya preferred romance novels, but she'd sat through enough undead apocalypses to know the drill: shoot for the head, don't get bitten, and the hottest couple never survives together.

"Hey," Tyler said, suddenly beside her. "Wanna see something cool?"

He led her around the side of the pool house to a small pond she'd never noticed before. Floating there were three goldfish—bright orange against the dark water, swimming in perfect formation like they were choreographed.

"My sister won them at the carnival last year," Tyler said. "Mom said we couldn't keep them inside, so...

He trailed off, and Maya suddenly got it. Tyler—the guy who seemed to have everything together—was secretly taking care of his sister's carnival goldfish in a secret pond behind the pool house. It was the most un-perfect thing about him, and Maya felt her heart do something dangerously close to swooning.

"They're amazing," she said, and meant it.

Tyler looked at her, really looked at her, for the first time all night. "You know, you're the only person I've told about them."

The zombie movie howled from inside. Someone screamed. Maya's smoothie was melting. Her hair was definitely a disaster. But Tyler's secret goldfish were swimming in their secret pond, and he was smiling at her like she was someone worth sharing secrets with.

"Wanna feed them with me tomorrow?" he asked.

Maya took another sip of papaya bravery. "Only if you let me try your hair products."

Tyler laughed, and it sounded better than any zombie movie scream in the background.

"Deal."