Swimming in the Shallow End

Maya's goldfish chose the worst possible moment to die. Right as Connor—the cute sophomore who'd been sliding into her DMs—finally invited her to his baseball game, Bubbles went belly-up. Classic.

She stared at the floating fish, her phone buzzing with Connor's text: "Section F, row 3. Save me a seat?" Her thumbs hovered over the keyboard, typing and deleting three different responses. She was practically vibrating with nerves, which was ridiculous. She'd talked to Connor plenty on Instagram. But in person? That was different.

"Maya! Did you feed the—oh." Her mom appeared in the doorway, clocking the dead fish situation. "I'll buy you a new one. Maybe a betta? They're hardier."

"It's not about the fish, Mom." Maya grabbed her backpack. "I'm going to Sarah's."

"But dinner's almost ready! I made—"

"Not hungry!" She was already halfway down the driveway, her iPhone clutched in her hand like a lifeline.

The baseball field was packed when she arrived, the smell of concession stand popcorn and cut grass thick in the humidity. Connor spotted her from the dugout and waved. Maya felt her face heat up as she slid into the seat next to his friends. They were all talking about some party on Friday, and she nodded along, trying to look like she belonged.

Then came the snacks. Sarah handed her a spinach wrap from the concession stand. "It's actually not bad, I swear."

Maya took a massive bite to prove she was chill. The wrap was decent, but as she laughed at someone's joke, she felt something wedge between her front teeth. Spinach. Of course. She spent the next twenty minutes doing that subtle tongue-sweep thing, trying to dislodge it without being obvious, all while Connor kept glancing over at her between innings.

His team won. Everyone streamed onto the field, and Maya hung back, still working on the spinach situation with her tongue. Then Connor jogged over, sweaty and grinning, and sat right beside her.

"Hey. You came."

"Yeah. You guys killed it."

"Thanks." He looked at her, really looked at her, and Maya realized she didn't care about the spinach. "Hey, my phone died earlier, but I wanted to ask—do you want to come to that party Friday? With me?"

Maya felt something warm bloom in her chest, brighter and more real than any notification could ever be. "Yeah," she said, and she actually smiled. "I'd love that."

Her phone buzzed in her pocket—her mom, probably wondering where she was. But Maya ignored it. Sometimes you had to go offline to really connect.