Goldfish Protocol

I was operating on pure zombie mode—four hours of sleep, two AP exams, and a history project due at midnight. My brain felt like it had been replaced with cotton candy.

"You look dead," Jordan said, sliding into the cafeteria seat across from me.

"Thanks. Really selling the whole high school experience."

I poked at the papaya on my tray. Mom had packed it again, claiming it was "exotic and full of vitamins." To me, it looked like orange sadness. Everyone else had pizza or those fancy sandwiches from the cafeteria line.

"What is that even?" Jordan wrinkled their nose.

"Papaya. It's supposed to be a superfood or something."

"Gross. Pass me a chip."

I glanced toward the senior tables—well, what everyone called "the pyramid." The popular kids sat at the top, literally and figuratively. Marcus Chen laughed at something, that easy confident laugh that made my chest feel weird. He'd won homecoming king, obviously, because of course he had.

"Stop staring," Jordan said.

"I'm not staring. I'm observing social dynamics. For science."

"Right. Sure." Jordan rolled their eyes so hard I wondered if they could see their own brain. "You've been crushing on him since freshman year. Just talk to him already."

"Yeah, because that would go well. Hey Marcus, nice weather, also I'm awkward and my lunch fruit is weird."

The plastic bag with my carnival goldfish sat on the table. I'd won TWO last weekend, which was honestly more responsibility than I needed right now. They swam around their tiny castle, oblivious to my existential crisis. Their names were Coral and Reef, because I was original like that.

"Those fish are going to die if you keep forgetting to feed them," Jordan pointed out.

"I haven't forgotten! I just... postpone it sometimes."

"That's literally forgetting."

"It's called flexible time management."

Then Marcus started walking toward our table.

I froze. Literally stopped breathing.

"Hey," he said, stopping at our table. "Aren't you in AP Calc?"

"What? Yes. I mean, yeah, I am. Calc. With you. Sometimes." My voice was doing this weird squeaky thing.

"Cool. I'm, uh, kinda struggling with the optimization stuff. Could I maybe study with you sometime?"

Jordan was trying so hard not to laugh that they were turning purple.

"Yeah!" I said way too loudly. "I mean, sure, that could work. I'm pretty good at optimization."

"Great. Can I get your number?"

"Yes. Absolutely. Here." I practically shoved my phone at him.

After he walked away, Jordan burst out laughing. "'Optimization.' Nice."

"Shut up."

"So... study date?"

"It's not a date! It's tutoring! Academic support!"

But maybe it could be both.

I looked at my goldfish, swimming happily in their little world. They had no idea my life had just completely changed. And I still needed to feed them.

Tomorrow. Definitely tomorrow.