Swimming in Open Air

Maya's palms were sweating. Like, actually sweating through the liner of her pockets as she stood in Kyle's backyard, watching the sunset paint everything orange. Everyone else seemed to know exactly how to exist at parties—how to lean against trees, how to hold red cups, how to laugh at jokes that weren't even funny.

"Hey, you're Maya, right?"

She jumped. It was Liam from her English class, holding out a plastic cup. "You look like you're mentally calculating escape routes."

"Is it that obvious?" Maya wiped her palms on her jeans, regretting it immediately.

"Only because I was doing the same thing freshman year." Liam grinned. "Want to see something weird?"

He led her around the side of the house where a small pond glowed with underwater lights. Floating in it was a single goldfish, vivid orange against the dark water.

"My little sister won him at the carnival last week," Liam said. "Parents said no pets inside, so...

"You exiled him to the backyard pond?" Maya raised an eyebrow. "Rough gig."

"He seems fine. Actually, I think he likes the freedom." Liam tossed a piece of popcorn into the water. The goldfish darted up, snatched it, and vanished again. "Better than being stuck in some tiny bowl watching the same fake plastic castle over and over."

Maya watched the fish surface again, breaking the water in quicksilver flashes. "You know, that's actually kind of deep."

"What? That goldfish deserve liberation?"

"No." She smiled. "That we're all just swimming around, pretending we know what we're doing, when really we're all just—"

"Fish out of water?"

"Something like that."

The orange glow from the sunset had faded to deep purple. Maya's palms weren't sweating anymore. Sometimes, she realized, the best moments at parties weren't the ones everyone Instagrammed later. They were the quiet ones, standing by a pond with someone who got it, watching a goldfish live his best life in temporary freedom.

"Hey," Liam said, "wanna go inside? I think they're about to order pizza."

"Yeah," Maya said. "Yeah, I'd like that."