The Goldfish Algorithm

Maya's phone buzzed against her nightstand, the charging **cable** tangled like last week's anxiety. 3:47 AM. Someone was still awake in the group chat.

"u up?" flashed across her screen from Kai, the sophomore with the perfect hair and crooked smile who sat behind her in bio.

Maya's thumbs hovered. Her mom's voice echoed in her head: "Don't forget your **vitamin** D supplement, sweetie. Winter's coming." But this wasn't about vitamins. This was about Kai possibly liking her, or maybe just needing homework help, or maybe—

The phone slipped from her sweaty palms and crashed onto her fish tank's rim. Inside, Gerald—the **goldfish** her ex-best friend had left behind—swam in confused circles. His bowl sat on her desk like a lonely planet, filled with tap **water** that needed changing three days ago.

"same," Maya typed back, heart hammering. "what's up?"

"can't sleep. thinking about that party at Jordan's on friday."

Maya's stomach did gymnastics. Everyone who was anyone would be there. The ones with perfect skin and expensive sneakers and friends who actually stayed. She'd spent the entire week agonizing over outfits, over whether her laugh was too loud, over whether she'd say something weird.

"r u going?" Kai sent.

"idk maybe" she replied, even though she'd been planning it for weeks.

The dots danced. Then: "u should come. it'd be cool to see u. not just for the bio notes lol"

Maya's face burned. She caught her reflection in Gerald's bowl—hair frizzy, retainer in, hoodie stained with **spinach** from dinner. Why would Kai want to see HER like this?

But something shifted. Maybe it was the 4 AM delirium, or maybe Gerald chose that moment to do a particularly impressive flip, but Maya typed: "yeah okay. i'll be there."

"sick. save me a dance?"

Maya's thumb hovered over send. This was it—the moment between the version of herself she projected and the one she actually was. The gap where all the growing happened.

She hit send.

Gerald did another loop. The charging cable lay forgotten on her floor. For the first time in forever, Maya fell asleep with a smile on her face, messy spinach stain and all.