The Goldfish Gambit

Maya's phone buzzed for the third time in five minutes. Another notification from her fake Instagram account. The one where she was 'spy_girl_99', stalking Jordan's every post like a total creep. She'd spent three months curating this digital persona, liking and commenting to stay on his radar without ever revealing herself.

'Just slide into his DMs already,' her best friend Kia had said. 'What's the worst that could happen?'

Maya knew exactly what could happen. Rejection. Humiliation. The social equivalent of walking into the cafeteria with toilet paper stuck to your shoe.

Her cat, Mochi, chose that moment to knock her favorite beanie off the desk. The hat that made her feel effortlessly cool, like she could pull off anything. Without it, she was just Maya—overthinking everything, terrified of being seen.

'Thanks, Mochi,' she sighed, watching the cat settle into a sunny spot on her bed.

Her gaze drifted to her goldfish, Bubbles, swimming endless circles in his bowl. Stupid fish didn't worry about being seen. Didn't obsess over whether Jordan would think he was trying too hard. Just swam.

'The bar is in hell,' she whispered to the fish. 'Even you've got more game than me.'

Bubbles did a little flip, like he understood.

Maya's thumb hovered over Jordan's profile. She could keep playing spy girl, watching from behind the safety of her screen. Or she could actually be brave for once.

Her heart hammered as she typed: 'Hey! Saw you're into that new indie band. They're playing at the Warehouse next weekend if you wanna go?'

She hit send before she could talk herself out of it.

Two minutes later: 'OMG yes! I was hoping someone would go with me. You down?'

Maya stared at her iphone, grinning like an idiot. Mochi head-butted her hand, demanding attention. Bubbles did another victory lap. Maybe being seen wasn't so scary after all.

Maybe the coolest thing she could do was just be herself.