The Pool Party Protocol

Maya's thumbs hovered over her cracked screen as she stood outside Jordan's house, the bass from inside vibrating through the soles of her knockoff Converse. Her cat — whom she'd dramatically posted about with '#mywholeworld' just that morning — was probably obliviously napping on her pillow, while Maya was hyperventilating over a pool party.

'You got this,' she whispered, then immediately regretted it. Who talks to themselves outside a party?

Inside, the air smelled like chlorine and expensive perfume. Everyone seemed to already have their friend groups, their cliques, their inside jokes. Maya's iphone buzzed in her pocket — her group chat going wild without her.

'Shit,' someone said behind her.

Maya turned to see Jordan, the host, staring at a fishbowl on a table near the pool edge. A lone goldfish swam in circles, looking as existentially confused as Maya felt.

'My little sister's,' Jordan explained, running a hand through messy dark hair. 'Somehow escaped her room. I keep worrying it's gonna, like, stage a jailbreak.'

'Maybe it's just trying to find the pool,' Maya said without thinking, then winced. Goldfish couldn't actually want swimming, right? That sounded dumb.

But Jordan laughed. 'Honestly? Mood.'

They ended up sitting on the pool's edge, feet in the water, as the party raged around them. Jordan told stories about failing their driving test three times. Maya confessed about her secret obsession with true crime podcasts. The goldfish watched them like a tiny, judgmental audience.

'Wait,' Jordan said suddenly. 'What happened to the charger cable?'

'Oh!' Maya pulled the tangled white cord from her pocket. 'Borrowed it earlier from your kitchen. Sorry.'

'Keep it,' Jordan said, standing up. 'Unless you want to... come over tomorrow? My parents are taking my sister to some aquarium thing. We could finally finish that show everyone's been lowkey obsessing over.'

Maya's heart did something genuinely embarrassing. 'Yeah. I'd like that.'

Later that night, her cat yawned at her from the bed as Maya posted a photo: her sneakers next to Jordan's by the pool, a goldfish blurred in the background. Caption: 'Not the worst Friday ever.'

Her phone lit up with likes. But Maya was already too busy replaying every moment of a conversation that actually mattered.