The Goldfish Incident

Maya's older brother Derek was supposed to be watching their pet goldfish, Bubbles, while their parents were out. Instead, he'd abandoned the living room for his bedroom, probably glued to his gaming setup with that frayed HDMI cable he kept threatening to replace.

"Derek!" Maya yelled from the couch. "Bubbles looks weird!"

No response. Typical. Her brother had the emotional availability of a zombie when Fortnite was involved.

Maya sighed and shuffled to the fishbowl. Bubbles was definitely floating sideways at the top. Great. This was exactly what she needed—her parents would return to find she'd let their first family pet die within forty-eight hours.

She debated texting Jake, the cute sophomore from her biology class, but they'd only been talking for like, two weeks. Hardly relationship goals when she couldn't even keep a goldfish alive. The bar was underground.

Outside, Mr. Henderson's calico cat—serial neighborhood murderer of small animals—padded along the fence. Maya shot up and slammed the window shut. Not today, Satan.

Her phone buzzed. Jake: wyd?

Maya stared at the fishbowl. She had to bear witness to this tragedy alone.

"Derek, Bubbles is dead!"

Her brother's door swung open. "Chill, he's probably just sleeping."

"Goldfish don't sleep sideways, genius."

Derek shuffled over, peered into the bowl, and groaned. "Okay, RIP Bubbles. We gotta go to PetSmart before Mom gets back. I'll drive."

"You're literally the worst," Maya said, but grabbed her hoodie anyway.

They sped to the pet store, Derek rambling about how he'd almost won a goldfish at the county fair in seventh grade but dropped the bag. Maya half-listened, her mind cycling through text responses to Jake. Honesty? fake casual? the cool-girl approach?

At the pet store, Derek squatted by the aquariums. "Okay, so goldfish or—"

"No. No more goldfish. Let's get a betta. They're low-maintenance, like me."

"Facts," Derek nodded, grabbing a blue one. "What are we naming him?"

Maya watched the fish flare its gills. "Captain Fin."

"Dork."

"You're literally the one who—never mind."

They paid and sped home, somehow managing to swap fish and flush Bubbles before their parents pulled into the driveway. Maya collapsed onto her bed, heart racing from their near-death experience with parental disappointment.

Her phone lit up. Jake: wanna hang tomorrow?

Maya grinned. Maybe today wasn't a total disaster. Captain Fin swam silently in his bowl, unaware he'd just become an accomplice to fish identity theft. Living her best life, honestly.