The Goldfish Incident

The party at Jessica's house was supposed to be the social event of the freshman year, but instead, I was currently hiding in the bathroom, staring at my reflection. My hair, which I'd spent forty-five minutes straightening to perfection, was now a frizzy mess thanks to the humidity from the indoor pool area.

"You okay in there?" My best friend Maya called through the door. "Tyler's asking about you."

Tyler. The reason I was currently hyperventilating. The cute junior who'd actually noticed me at lunch yesterday.

"I'm fine," I lied, splashing some cold water on my face. "Just needed a minute."

I emerged to find the party in full swing. Someone had already cranked the music, and the pool area was packed. Tyler was near the shallow end, surrounded by his friends. His wet hair was pushed back, and I felt my stomach do that annoying flutter thing.

"Hey, Sarah!" he waved me over. "We're doing cannonball contests. You in?"

Before I could respond, Maya's golden retriever, Buster, came bounding through the crowd, chasing a beach ball. The poor dog had been accidentally locked in the laundry room all evening and was making up for lost time. In his excitement, he leaped toward the pool—

And crashed directly into Jessica's mom's fancy decorative glass bowl containing her prized goldfish.

The bowl shattered. Goldfish and water went flying everywhere—including all over Tyler and his friends.

For a second, everyone froze. Then Tyler started laughing. Not mean laughing, but genuine "this is ridiculous" laughing.

"Well," he said, wringing out his shirt, "that's definitely a first."

I couldn't help it. I started cracking up too. Soon everyone was laughing, including Jessica, who was just glad her mom wasn't home to witness the goldfish chaos.

Tyler walked over to me, still dripping. "So, Sarah, want to help me rescue these guys before they dry out?"

We spent the next twenty minutes scooping up goldfish and transferring them to a temporary home in a large mixing bowl. My hair looked terrible, I'd made a complete fool of myself, and I'd helped save three goldfish from certain death.

"Same time next week?" Tyler asked, grinning.

"Definitely," I said.

And for the first time all night, I actually felt confident.