The Goldfish Who Knew Everything

Marcus stared at the goldfish bowl on his desk, watching Bubbles do her third lap of the afternoon. She was the only one who didn't expect him to be someone he wasn't.

"Dude, you coming to Maya's party?" his best friend Toby asked through Discord, somehow sensing Marcus was awake despite his zombie-like state. He'd spent all week studying for AP Bio, surviving on espresso and three hours of sleep a night. Basically, he was the walking dead.

"Nah, not feeling it," Marcus typed back, grabbing a handful of goldfish crackers from the stash he kept hidden in his drawer. His mom was on another health kick, so actual snacks had been replaced with spinach smoothies and kale chips. He'd nearly cried when he found the spinach smoothie pitcher in the fridge, labeled with that annoying mom-smile emoji.

"Bro, it's gonna be LIT. Sarah's gonna be there." Toby sent a string of fire emojis.

Marcus groaned. Sarah, who'd sat next to him in English last year and somehow remembered his name despite his entire personality being "quiet kid who occasionally contributed one word to class discussions." Sarah, who definitely didn't want to talk to someone who'd had spinach stuck in his front tooth for an entire week of sophomore year without anyone telling him. He still cringed thinking about it.

Bubbles floated to the top of her bowl, gulping at the surface. She was on her third goldfish since Marcus had gotten her in seventh grade. Sometimes he felt like that was a metaphor for something.

"You're overthinking it," he told the fish. "She probably doesn't even remember the spinach incident."

His phone buzzed. Unknown number.

"Hey! This is Sarah from English lol. Toby said you might come to Maya's? You should totally come!"

Marcus stared at the message, heart doing that embarrassing fluttery thing. Bubbles did a little flip, which she only did when she wanted more food.

"Fine," Marcus typed to Toby. "I'll go. But if this is a prank, I'm ending our friendship."

"No prank bro. Also bring more of those goldfish crackers. The cheddar ones."

Marcus laughed, the zombie fog finally lifting. Maybe tonight wouldn't be so dead after all.