Three Feet Under

Maya's life ended at 3:47 PM on a Tuesday.

She was housesitting for Mrs. Chen, which meant approximately twelve dollars an hour to feed Bubbles the goldfish and water three suspiciously lush ferns. Simple. Chill. A perfect setup for someone who'd already lost three babysitting jobs and a houseplant (RIP, Fernando the fern).

Then her iPhone slipped.

One minute Maya was recording a TikTok dance (because viral fame wasn't going to achieve itself, and her room was basic), and the next—*splash*.

The phone did this elegant little dive, like it'd been practicing, and landed right next to Bubbles. Who immediately swam over to investigate.

"No no NOPE," Maya whispered, plunging her arm elbow-deep into freezing water.

Bubbles darted away, clearly judging her.

Her fingers grazed the phone just as a notification lit up the screen underwater. *Jake liked your story*.

"BEAR WITH ME!" she yelled, causing Bubbles to retreat into his plastic castle.

Wait. *Bear*?

Maya yanked her arm out, phone dripping, heart hammering. On the phone's screen (miraculously still working), she saw what she'd texted Jake five minutes ago: *Want to hang? My parents are gone all weekend.*

Autocorrect had changed *hang* to *hug*. And *weekend* to... *weasel*.

*Want to hug? My parents are gone all weasel.*

Face burning, Maya sank to the floor. Bubbles swam to the glass, watching her with what looked suspiciously like sympathy.

"You think you got problems?" Maya told the fish. "At least nobody's expecting you to hug weasels."

Her phone buzzed again. Jake: *LMAO what?*

Maya stared at the screen, mortification slowly turning into something else. Because Jake was still texting. Still interested. And somehow, that autocorrect disaster had broken the ice better than three weeks of awkward glances in AP Chem.

She typed back: *Autocorrect hates me. But seriously, you want to come over?*

Jake: *Only if Bubbles can supervise*

Maya glanced at the goldfish, now doing laps around his castle.

"Deal," she said.

Bubbles did a little flip.

Okay, maybe life hadn't ended. Maybe it was just getting weird enough to actually start living.