The Lightning in His Eyes

Maya hated homecoming week with the kind of passion usually reserved for pop quizzes and monday mornings. But here she was, running toward the gym, heart pounding, because she'd somehow let Chloe talk her into helping with the sophomore float—again.

'You're late!' Chloe called, gesturing dramatically at the half-finished monstrosity. 'The theme is Ancient Mysteries, and we're literally supposed to have a giant sphinx head finished by tomorrow morning.'

Maya dumped her backpack on the bleachers. 'Why do I always let you volunteer me for things?'

'Because you're secretly a masochist who loves craft foam at 11 PM?' Chloe grinned, tossing her a hot glue gun. 'Also, Liam's helping with the junior float next door, so...'

Maya's stomach did that stupid flutter thing it always did when Liam was mentioned. Liam, with his perpetually messy dark hair and that crooked smile that made geometry class worth attending. She'd been crushing on him since seventh grade, which was basically forever in teenage years.

'Oh my god, Chloe.'

'What? I'm just saying.'

They worked in companionable silence for an hour, the gym echo-y and strangely peaceful. Maya was gluing orange construction paper scales onto what would eventually be the sphinx's mane when the storm hit outside.

LIGHTNING cracked across the sky, illuminating the entire gym in purple-white flashes.

'Whoa,' Chloe said. 'That was close.'

And then the power went out.

Pitch black.

'Maya?' Chloe's voice wavered. 'This is fine. Everything is fine.'

'You're scared of the dark, aren't you?'

'No. Maybe. A little. Is there a flashlight anywhere?'

'Hang on.' Maya dug through her backpack and found her phone, turning on the flashlight. The weak beam cut through the darkness, casting long shadows across their half-finished sphinx. 'See? Not so bad.'

That's when she noticed the movement near the floor.

Something small and orange was darting between the bleachers.

'Is that...?' Chloe squinted. 'Is that a goldfish?'

'That is definitely not on land,' Maya said. 'Why is there a goldfish in the gym?'

They followed the little orange fish as it flopped determinedly toward the door, somehow still moving despite everything wrong with this situation.

'It must be from the bio classroom,' Chloe whispered. 'Mr. Harrison's tank escape artist.'

The gym door creaked open. Light from the hallway spilled in, and Maya's heart stopped.

Liam stood there, holding a flashlight, looking unfairly good even in a crisis.

'Hey,' he said. 'Power's out in the whole building. We were gonna go check if anyone needed—'

The goldfish flopped right toward his sneaker.

Liam jumped. 'WHAT IS THAT'

'That's Gerald,' Chloe said immediately. 'He's having an identity crisis.'

'Gerald the goldfish,' Maya repeated, deadpan.

'You got a better name?'

Liam stared at them, then at the fish, then started laughing. The kind of laugh that made his eyes crinkle and Maya's chest feel weird and tight.

'You guys are the weirdest people I've ever met,' he said. 'Can I help you save Gerald?'

They spent the next twenty minutes running through the dark school building with a flashlight and a plastic cup, chasing a runaway goldfish while lightning continued to flash outside. Chloe kept making terrible puns. Liam kept looking at Maya like she was actually funny, which she definitely wasn't.

When they finally got Gerald safely back in his tank, Liam walked Maya to her locker.

'So,' he said, leaning against the lockers. 'That was the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me.'

'This school is weird,' Maya agreed.

'Yeah. But it's not bad.' He smiled, and she noticed for the first time that his eyes had little gold flecks in them, like the lightning outside. 'Hey, maybe after homecoming, you want to—'

'OI LOVEBIRDS' Chloe yelled from down the hall. 'PARENTS ARE HERE. YOU GOOD?'

Liam turned bright red. Maya felt her face burning too, but she was smiling.

'Text me,' she said.

'Totally.'

Maya walked out to the parking lot with Chloe, the storm finally breaking, rain pouring down like it was trying to wash away everything that happened before tonight. The sphinx would get finished tomorrow. The float would be whatever it would be.

But tonight, running through dark hallways with a boy who might actually like her back, saving a fish named Gerald with her best friend while lightning cracked the sky open—tonight was exactly the kind of weird, perfect, unexpected moment she'd been waiting for.

'Well,' Chloe said, popping open her umbrella. 'At least you got his number.'

'Shut up, Chloe.'

'You're welcome.'