Goldfish Solo Cup

The neon orange streak in my hair wasn't even supposed to be there. My mom was gonna freak when she saw it, but that was tomorrow Maya's problem. Tonight was Jess's house party, and I was already sweating through my favorite black hoodie.

I'd been crushing on Jason since seventh grade, and tonight I was finally gonna make my move. My plan: show up, look chill, maybe accidentally brush against him near the solo cups. That was the plan, anyway.

Then Jason handed me his iPhone. "Hold this a sec, yeah?"

My heart did that thing where it forgets how to beat. Jason trusted me with his phone. His unlocked iPhone.

I did what any rational person would do: I immediately checked his texts. Nothing suspicious. Then his camera roll. Nothing but skate videos and memes. Then—oops—I opened Snapchat.

My thumb slipped.

Somehow, someway, his phone launched out of my hand like it was possessed. Straight into the open goldfish bowl on the counter. The goldfish—I think its name was Bubbles—looked personally offended.

I stared in horror. Jason's iPhone, submerged, screen still somehow glowing through the water. Bubbles doing terrified laps around it.

"What did you DO?"

I looked up. Jason, back from the bathroom. His face: equal parts confused and absolutely done.

"I can explain."

"You dropped my phone in a fish bowl?"

"It slipped."

"It slipped? Into the water? With the fish?"

I didn't think. I just grabbed a red solo cup, scooped up Bubbles (sorry, buddy), and started running.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH MY FISH?" Jess yelled from somewhere.

"SORRY," I screamed back, already halfway down the street, Jason's phone in one hand, a goldfish in a solo cup in the other, my orange-streaked hair probably glowing under the streetlights like some radioactive beacon of shame.

Jason caught up to me three blocks later, breathless. "What are you DOING?"

"Saving your phone," I said. "And your fish. Sort of."

He stared at me. Then at his fish in a cup. Then back at me. And then—somehow—we were both laughing. Like, actually laughing. Me, running down the street at midnight with a goldfish and a destroyed iPhone, and Jason, the guy I'd been pining after for two years, laughing so hard he had to stop running.

"You're so weird, Maya," he said, but not like it was a bad thing.

"Your phone's probably dead, though," I admitted.

"Eh. I was gonna upgrade anyway."

We walked back to Jess's house, Bubbles sloshing gently in his solo cup, my orange hair finally feeling like it was exactly where it was supposed to be.

Maybe tomorrow I'd deal with my mom. Maybe Jason's phone would never work again. But for tonight, running through the suburbs with a goldfish and a cute boy who thought I was weird in a good way? That was enough.