The Goldfish Oracle

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her red solo cup like a lifeline. This was it — Jordan's legendary end-of-year party, and she was seriously considering just swimming home instead of dealing with this.

"You okay?" asked Chloe, her best friend since kindergarten, who actually looked like she belonged here in her swimsuit that cost more than Maya's entire wardrobe.

"I'm bearing up," Maya lied, shrugging. "Just needed some air."

"You've been out here for twenty minutes avoiding the karaoke machine," Chloe said, not buying it. "Also, that goldfish in the bowl keeps staring at you. It's low-key creepy."

Maya glanced at the glass bowl on the patio table. Inside, a single orange goldfish floated amid neon LED lights. Someone had taped a sign: FORTUNE TELLER • ASK ME ABOUT YOUR CRUSH.

"That's so dumb," Maya said, though she'd been thinking about Leo all week.

Inside, lightning flashed from the karaoke screen as someone massacred a Taylor Swift song. The sphinx-like puzzle of high school social dynamics swirled around her — who liked who, who'd gotten into which college, who was pretending not to care when they obviously did.

"Just ask it," Chloe pushed gently. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Maya leaned over the bowl. "Does Leo like me?"

The goldfish did a complete loop-de-loop and surfaced, blowing bubbles.

"That's a yes, right?" Chloe asked. "I feel like that's a yes."

Suddenly, Maya couldn't stop laughing. Here she was, at arguably the most important social event of her high school career, taking romantic advice from a fish that probably had a three-second memory.

"You know what?" Maya said, setting down her cup. "I'm going back inside. I'm going to sing karaoke badly. And then I'm going to talk to Leo."

The goldfish did another spin, as if in approval.

"Bear it," Chloe said, grinning. "No more hiding."

Sometimes the best answers came from the most unexpected places. And maybe — just maybe — this wasn't so scary after all.