Operation Goldfish

Maya's thumb hovered over the Instagram story, heart doing that stupid flutter thing it always did when Leo's profile popped up. Being a 14-year-old spy wasn't exactly in her career plans, but someone had to keep tabs on the guy she'd been crushing on since seventh grade science, when he'd accidentally set the lab sink on fire and laughed about it.

"You're literally stalking him again," Chloe said from where she was sprawled across Maya's bed, painting her toenails a violently bright blue. "Just talk to him at padel practice tomorrow."

Padel. Right. Because Maya had definitely signed up for the stupid club just because Leo played, not because she'd spent three whole summers watching her abuelo destroy opponents on the court. Definitely not.

"I'm not stalking," Maya protested, scrolling through Leo's story for the seventeenth time. "I'm gathering intel. There's a difference."

"Whatever you say, Sherlock." Chloe held up her phone to show a TikTok. "But meanwhile, your brother just posted this."

Maya froze. Her 12-year-old brother Ethan was in the background of Leo's story, wearing that ridiculous goldfish costume from last Halloween, holding up a sign: MAYA HAS HAD SPINACH IN HER TEETH SINCE LUNCH.

The timestamp was 2:47 PM.

Maya had last eaten lunch at 11:30.

"NO," she screamed, throwing a pillow at her reflection. "I talked to THREE PEOPLE. I SMILED AT LEO IN THE HALLWAY."

Chloe was dying, actually wheezing. "This is the funniest thing that's ever happened to anyone. Your brother is a legend."

"He's dead. I'm killing him."

"Better question," Chloe gasped between laughs, "how did no one tell you? We're literally your friends."

Maya stared at her phone screen, where the story had already gotten twelve views from their mutuals. The worst part wasn't even the spinach—or the fact that it had been there for four hours. The worst part was that Leo had clearly seen it. He'd even replied to the story with that crying-laughing emoji.

"You know what this means, right?" Maya said, suddenly calm. "Tomorrow at padel practice, I have to show my face."

"And you'll do it with spinach-free teeth," Chloe said, finally composing herself. "Because now you'll check. Every five minutes."

Maya looked at the goldfish-costume disaster one more time, then at Leo's reply, and felt something shift inside her chest. Maybe total humiliation was just part of growing up. Maybe the trick wasn't avoiding embarrassing moments—maybe it was surviving them with enough dignity to show up tomorrow anyway.

"Check my teeth," Maya said. "Right now. Before I do something else that ends up on Instagram."

"Clean," Chloe announced. "You're good, Spy. You're good."

Maya set down her phone, still buzzing with notifications from people discovering her spinach saga. Whatever. Leo had laughed. At least he'd noticed her—even if it was because her brother had betrayed her in a goldfish costume.

Some stories don't end how you expect. But sometimes, that's actually okay.