Operation Goldfish

Maya felt like a total zombie as she dragged herself to the neighborhood pool party. End-of finals week would do that to you. Her older brother Jake had promised that crashing Tyler Henderson's party would be legendary, but mostly Maya just wanted to sleep for approximately a thousand years.

"You're on spy duty," Jake whispered, tossing her the least convincing undercover gear ever — oversized sunglasses and a bright pink pool float shaped like a goldfish. "I need you to casually position yourself near the snack table and find out if Chloe's into me."

Maya rolled her eyes so hard it hurt. "First off, nobody wears sunglasses at night unless they're a tool or actually a vampire. Second, this goldfish is not low profile."

"It's ironic," Jake insisted, already vanishing into the crowd of laughing juniors.

The pool area was packed — bodies everywhere, music thumping, that specific smell of chlorine and coconut sunscreen that screamed summer. Maya waded through the social minefield, feeling every bit the awkward freshman she was. Her giant goldfish float was getting sideways looks from basically everyone.

She spotted Chloe by the deep end, looking impossibly gorgeous in a swimsuit that made Maya want to crawl into a hole and stay there. Maya positioned herself strategically near the chips, trying to look like she belonged and wasn't currently failing Operation Goldfish.

"Cool fish," someone said behind her.

Maya turned to see Tyler himself, the host, grinning at her. He was even cuter up close, which was annoying.

"It's for... irony," Maya said, mortified.

Tyler laughed. "No, totally. I respect the commitment. You want to float? The pool's actually pretty chill once the basics leave."

And somehow, ten minutes later, Maya was floating in the middle of the pool on her ridiculous goldfish while Tyler told her about how he almost failed chemistry but his teacher gave him extra credit for somehow keeping his class pet alive all year.

"Wait," Maya said, sitting up too fast and nearly tipping. "You kept a class pet alive? Which one?"

"Mr. Swims," Tyler said. "He's a goldfish. Possibly immortal at this point."

Maya's phone buzzed in her pocket — a text from Jake: ANY INTEL???

She smiled and typed back: She's not into you but I might be into his pool.

"Everything good?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah," Maya said, realizing she didn't feel like a zombie anymore. Sometimes the best missions weren't the ones you signed up for. "Just telling my brother his spy game needs work."

Tyler laughed. "Goldfish ops can be tricky."