Operation Goldfish

I became a **spy** at 3:47 PM on a Tuesday, mostly because Maya's Instagram story showed her at the mall with Tyler's sister, which meant Tyler would probably be there, which meant I needed to be there. Not in a creepy way. In a strategic way.

My best friend Kai rolled his eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck. "Bro, you're not James Bond. You're a guy in an ugly **hat**."

"It's not ugly," I said, adjusting the fedora I'd bought from Hot Topic in eighth grade. "It's distinctive."

"It's a cry for help," Kai said, but he came anyway because that's what best friends do—they enable your bad decisions and roast you simultaneously.

We found Maya at the food court, and naturally, Tyler was there too, looking like he'd personally invented being 6'2" and varsity everything. I froze. Kai had to physically push me forward.

"**Bull**," I whispered. "I can't. Look at him. He's got that confidence thing. I've got whatever this is."

"You're not gonna talk to him? After we spent forty minutes on the bus?"

I was about to bail when Tyler's little brother pointed at the pet store window behind us. "Look at the **goldfish**!" he yelled. "It's just swimming in circles forever!"

Tyler laughed. "That's the dream, little man. No responsibilities. Just vibes."

We made eye contact. I said the first thing that came to mind. "I had a goldfish once. It lasted three days."

"Tragic," Tyler said, but he was smiling. "What was its name?"

"**Orange**." I paused. "Like, literally Orange. I was seven and not creative."

Tyler laughed—a real one. "Dude. Same energy."

Maya grinned at me like she'd planned this whole thing. Maybe she had.

We sat together for twenty minutes while Tyler told us about how he accidentally joined the debate team because he thought it was the debate club about whether video games count as sports. Kai kept making faces at me from behind Tyler's back.

When we left, Kai slung an arm around my shoulders. "See? That wasn't so bad. You didn't even die."

"I think I'm gonna join debate team," I said.

"You hate arguing."

"Yeah but Tyler's there."

Kai sighed. "You're hopeless."

"Yeah," I said, smiling. "But at least I'm not a goldfish."