The Catfish Incident

Maya stood in front of the bathroom mirror, her normally curly **hair** straightened within an inch of its life. Three hours of work, one flat iron, and enough heat protectant to fry an egg. All for him.

"You look different," Zara had said that morning, raising an eyebrow. "Like, trying too hard different."

Whatever. Zara didn't understand what it was like to finally have the most popular guy in sophomore year notice you. Jason had slid into her DMs two weeks ago, and suddenly Maya's ordinary existence felt possible to upgrade.

The pool party was already in full swing when she arrived. Chlorine and cheap perfume hung heavy in the air. Jason waved from the deep end, his **water**-slicked hair gleaming. Maya's stomach did that thing where it forgot how to organ.

"Hey!" He swam over as she hesitated at the edge. "Jump in!"

"I just... I need a minute," she said. "Straightened my hair."

Jason laughed, but not mean. It was genuine. "Maya, it's a pool. Your hair's gonna get wet either way."

Right. Because normal people just jumped in. Because normal people didn't spend three hours constructing armor out of hair products and hope.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Jason's DM popped up again: *can't wait to see u irl ;)*

Wait.

Maya looked at Jason in the pool. Then back at her phone. Something was off.

"Yo, Jason!" someone called. "Your **cat** got out again!"

"What?" Jason scrambled out of the **water**. "Mr. Fluffington? NO!"

Maya watched him race toward the gate, his concern entirely genuine. And then her phone buzzed again.

A different number this time. *Hey this is Jason. Someone's pretending to be me and telling girls to come to my party?? I don't even know who you are lol*

Maya looked at her flat-ironed **hair**, her carefully chosen outfit, the hours of overthinking. Then she started laughing. Like, actually couldn't stop.

Zara found her five minutes later sitting on the pool edge, feet in the **water**, laugh-crying.

"You got catfished, didn't you?" Zara said, not unkindly.

"Hard core," Maya nodded. "Like, championship level."

"Well," Zara sat beside her. "At least your **hair** looks great. Also, real Jason is way cuter."

Maya looked at the real Jason, frantically chasing his escaped **cat** through the neighbor's yard. He was kind of a disaster.

"Yeah," she said, diving into the pool without another thought. "Yeah, he kind of is."