The Bear at the Bottom of the Pool

Mika's pool party was supposed to be my social rebranding. Fresh from eighth grade's awkward goodbye, I showed up wearing my mom's sunglasses (vintage, she insisted—looking like something a grandma leaves at bingo, I knew). The plan: sip my soda, look mysterious, maybe finally talk to Leo, whose hair fell perfectly even when wet. The mastermind plan lasted exactly twelve minutes. Then Chase—Mika's Golden Retriever of a brother who looked like a bear in swim trunks—decided to launch himself off the diving board while I was mid-sentence with Leo. "YOINK!" Chase bellowed, grabbing my ankle like he was reeling in a cat rather than a human being. I went under hard, surfacing to everyone staring at my neon one-piece (chosen for "modesty," now realizing it just looked like a traffic cone). My actual best friend, Riya, stood by the patio door holding Mr. Whiskers—Mika's cat—whose claws were apparently embedded in her forearm. "Goldfish emergency!" Riya mouthed, then bolted toward the koi pond by the fence where Chase's girlfriend had apparently decided the fish needed "liberation." I paddled after Riya, dripping pool water everywhere, while Leo watched from the diving board. He didn't laugh. Just looked at me with this expression I couldn't read—pity? amusement? We found Riya crouched by the pond, Mr. Whiskers now perched safely on her shoulder, watching three very confused goldfish swim in circles. "She said they looked depressed in there," Riya said, pointing to a girl with glittery eyeshadow and a very guilty expression. "So she dumped them in the koi pond. For enrichment."

Leo's voice came from behind me. "Your friend is chaotic."

I jumped, splashing more water onto my already-soaked sneakers. "That's one word for it."

"I like it," he said, sliding down to sit beside us on the grass. His bare arm brushed mine. "Also, that bear back there? Chase? He does that to everyone. Last week he nearly drowned me at Jordan's party."

"Wait, really?"

"Dude's got no chill. None." Leo grinned, and for the first time all summer, I didn't feel like I was forgetting the punchline to some joke everyone else understood. We sat there watching the goldfish (now swimming confidently among the koi like they owned the place) while Mr. Whiskers purred against Riya's neck and Chase performed increasingly dangerous cannonballs in the background. Mika would kill us later. Her parents would definitely notice the pond situation. But right now, in this weird pocket of time between childhood's end and whatever came next, nobody said anything about it. The bear would keep roaring. The cat would keep escaping. The goldfish would keep swimming like they'd always belonged there. And maybe, just maybe, I'd stop trying to be someone I wasn't and start being someone who could laugh when things went wrong. Riya high-fived me, Leo offered me a (slightly squished) bag of pretzels from his pocket, and for once, I didn't think about what I looked like in neon. Just thought about how goldfish have three-second memories and somehow still manage to have a pretty good time.