The Goldfish in My Hat

The hat was supposed to fix everything. If I kept the brim low enough, maybe nobody at Maya's party would notice I'd spent the last three weeks ghosting everyone because my mom decided we were moving to Ohio two days after homecoming.

"Yo, Marcus!" Jayden called from across the street, baseball cap backwards like always. "You coming or what? You've been standing there staring at Maya's house for like five minutes."

I adjusted my beanie, feeling the weight of the ziploc bag inside. The goldfish—that Maya won me at the carnival the night everything fell apart—swished around in the inch of tap water I'd managed to grab before rushing out. R.I.P. Bubbles, honestly.

"Yeah," I said. "Just... thinking."

"About what? Your freaky health phase?" Jayden fell into step beside me as we walked up the driveway. "My mom made papaya smoothies this morning. I almost threw up."

"Papaya's got enzymes," I said automatically. "It's good for—never mind."

Inside, the bass from whatever cable someone had hooked up to the speakers thumped against my chest. Maya's house smelled like vanilla and something spicy. I spotted her immediately in the kitchen, laughing with those effortless dimples that made my stomach do that thing it's been doing since seventh grade.

"Marcus!" She waved, and the hat suddenly felt like the most suspicious thing in the world. "You made it!"

"Yeah." I stood there, my hand instinctively going to my beanie. "Hey, Maya."

"What's with the hat inside?" Tyler appeared behind her, hand on her waist like he belonged there. "Weird vibe, bro."

Before I could answer, something furry slammed into my legs. Maya's golden retriever, Cooper, nearly knocked me over, tail going ninety miles an hour.

"Cooper!" Maya laughed. "Sorry, he's obsessed with everyone."

The dog jumped, and his paw caught the brim of my hat. It flew off, the ziploc bag tumbling out and sliding across the kitchen floor. The goldfish caught the overhead light, flashing like some sad, pathetic disco ball.

The room went dead silent.

"Is that..." Maya started.

"It's Bubbles," I said, my face on fire. "The goldfish you won me. At the carnival. It's... I don't know, I couldn't just flush him."

Cooper chose that moment to sniff the bag, tail still wagging like this was the best moment of his life.

"You've kept Bubbles alive for three weeks?" Maya's voice cracked. "In a bag?"

"Well," I said. "Not really. That's kind of why I'm here. I didn't want to ghost you with a dead goldfish between us."

Maya stared at me, then at Tyler's arm still around her waist. She moved away from him, toward me, and something in my chest—something that had been knotted since the carnival night—finally loosened.

"You kept the fish," she said softly.

"Yeah." I met her eyes. "I kept the fish."