The Goldfish Incident

The carnival goldfish lived in a bowl on Maya's nightstand, a reminder of the night she'd actually talked to Him. Cameron. The boy whose snapchat she'd been stalking since September. Now she stared at her iphone, thumb hovering over his contact, heart doing that weird flutter thing that made her feel absolutely pathetic.

"You gonna stare at it all night or actually text him?" Lena popped her head in, holding two overflowing glasses of water from the kitchen. "It's been three days since the carnival, Maya. He literally won you a fish. That's not nothing."

Maya groaned into her pillow. "I don't know what to say without sounding desperate. 'Thanks for the fish' sounds dumb. 'I had a great time' sounds like I'm already planning our wedding."

"Just be chill." Lena set the water down and flopped onto the bed. "Send something casual. 'The goldfish says thanks' or whatever. Keep it low stakes."

The goldfish swam to the surface of its bowl, mouth opening and closing like it was judging her entire existence. Maya's phone buzzed.

Cameron: hey how's the fish

Maya nearly died. Lena grabbed her phone."Okay, don't overthink this. Just—"

But Maya was already typing.

Maya: alive. surprisingly good at existential dread tho

Cameron: lol that's fair. wanna hang tomorrow? maybe NOT at a carnival

The scream she let out was absolutely bear-worthy—like, full-on grizzly emerging from hibernation. Lena joined in, both of them bouncing on the bed like actual children, water sloshing everywhere, the goldfish swimming calmly through its existential crisis, completely unaware that two teenage girls were losing their minds over a boy who probably didn't even know he'd just made their entire year.

Later that night, Maya would remember to text back. But for now, she just let herself feel it—the giddy, terrifying, wonderful feeling of being seen, of someone wanting to hang out with her, not because she was popular or pretty or whatever, but because she was Maya. The girl who loved stupid carnivals and now owned a judgmental goldfish.

Sometimes the best moments weren't the ones you planned for Instagram. They were the messy, unexpected ones that made you want to scream like a bear and jump on beds with your best friend at midnight.

The goldfish swam on, entirely unimpressed.