Three Second Rule

The goldfish floated sideways in its bowl on Maya's dresser, looking as dead as her social life. Carl (she'd won him at the homecoming carnival sophomore year) had survived three boyfriends, two friend group breakups, and one disastrous haircut. He was basically family at this point.

Tonight, Maya was going to Jordan's party. THE party. Everyone who was anyone would be there, including Kai, who'd finally noticed her existence in AP Bio last week when he asked to borrow a pen and their fingers touched for literally 0.3 seconds. She'd been thinking about it ever since.

Her mom appeared in the doorway holding a plastic container. "You need real food before you go out. I made spinach artichoke dip."

"Mom, I'm 17. I can feed myself."

"Just take it, honey. You don't want to be that person drinking on an empty stomach." Her mom's attempt at being chill was almost painful.

Maya grabbed the dip and stuffed it in her bag, mostly to end the conversation. She checked her reflection in Carl's bowl – okay, hair was doing that thing where it looked intentional instead of messy. Good enough.

At Jordan's, the party was already in full swing. Someone had hijacked the Bluetooth speaker and, naturally, put on throwback Disney channel songs. Maya grabbed a red cup and made her way to the kitchen where, of course, Kai was standing by the island.

He smiled when he saw her. "Hey, Maya!"

"Hey!" she said, way too loud.

They talked about AP Bio (why did all convos at parties circle back to school?), and then Kai's eyes dropped to her smile. His expression didn't change, but something shifted.

"You have a little..." He gestured to his own teeth.

SPINACH. From the dip her mom had forced on her. She'd become exactly that person.

Before she could die of mortification, the power went out. Someone screamed. Lightning flashed through the window, illuminating Kai's face in strobe-light bursts.

"Everyone outside!" Jordan yelled. "It's gonna get crazy!"

They spilled onto the lawn where the sky was putting on absolutely dramatics – purple clouds, constant lightning, the whole nine yards. Kai stood next to her, close enough that their shoulders brushed.

"So," he said. "That was pretty embarrassing with the spinach."

Maya covered her face. "Please forget my existence."

"Nah." He laughed. "Last week? I walked into a glass door at Chipotle in front of my entire soccer team. Sometimes it's just like that."

The lightning cracked directly overhead, making everything brighter than noon for one second.

"I wanted to ask you something," Kai said quickly, like the words were escaping him. "Do you want to get food tomorrow? Actual food. No spinach involved."

Maya's stomach did that full-body flutter thing that felt like electricity but better. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

Later that night, back in her room with the goldfish watching judgmentally from his bowl, Maya checked her phone. New message from Kai. She fell asleep thinking that maybe Carl wasn't the only one who could stick around through the embarrassing parts and still keep swimming sideways through it all.