Three Feet Under

The chlorine hit Maya's nose before she even saw the water. Another pool party, another night of standing on the edges while everyone else cannonballed into the deep end.

"Maya! Get in here!" Jenna yelled, doing a backflip off the diving board. Her boyfriend Damien—who'd literally been her lab partner two weeks ago—caught her mid-laugh.

Maya adjusted her towel. "Maybe later."

Her iPhone buzzed in her hand. A text from her mom: "How's the party? :)"

She typed back, "Fine" because "actually I feel like a goldfish in a bowl watching everyone else swim in the ocean" seemed too pathetic, even for her.

Because that's what she felt like ever since Jenna and Damien had paired off. And Tyler and Chloe. And apparently everyone in their entire friend group except her. She was just... floating alone in her own tiny bowl while her friends lived actual lives.

"Sup." A voice behind her.

Maya jumped and practically yeeted her iPhone into the pool.

But Marcus caught it—like, literally SNATCHED it out of the air before it could splash. His hand brushed hers, warm and slightly damp.

"Close call," he said, grinning. Those dimples.

Her face burned hotter than the pavement in July. "Thanks. I'm... that would've been bad."

"Yeah, dropping your phone in the pool is basically a teenager's worst nightmare." Marcus sat next to her, dangling his legs over the edge. "You okay? You look like you're contemplating life's deepest mysteries."

"Just thinking about goldfish," she said before she could stop herself.

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "...Goldfish?"

"You know how they have that three-second memory myth?" The words tumbled out. "Sometimes I feel like that's me. Like I keep forgetting that I'm actually okay on my own, and then I get lonely again, and I'm like, 'Oh right, this feels terrible.' Repeat cycle."

Marcus was quiet for a second. Then he said, "You know that myth isn't actually true, right? Goldfish remember stuff for months."

She looked at him.

"My sister did this science project," he continued. "Goldfish are actually pretty smart. They can recognize faces. They remember patterns. They don't just keep forgetting everything."

"Huh." Maya studied her hands. "Well. That's... actually reassuring?"

Marcus laughed, and it was this genuine, unguarded sound. "You're weird, Maya."

"Weird good or weird bad?"

"Weird good." He stood up and extended a hand. "Come on. I'll race you to the other side. Loser has to jump off the diving board."

"You're on."

And as Maya plunged into the cool blue water, kicking hard beside Marcus, she thought: maybe she wasn't stuck in a bowl after all. Maybe she was just learning to swim.