Three Seconds of Memory

Maya's iPhone screen glowed in the darkness of her bedroom at 2 AM, the blue light illuminating tears that had been falling for an hour. The text from Jordan still burned in her vision: *I can't be friends with someone who would do that.*

The accusation was baseless—a rumor started by Chloe, the queen bee of sophomore year who'd decided Maya was getting too popular. But the damage was done. Jordan blocked her everywhere. Instagram, Snapchat, even iMessage. Maya stared at her digital ghost town.

She pushed her chair back and rolled to her fish tank instead. Barnaby, her goldfish, swam to the glass, his orange scales catching the moonlight through the window. He'd been her only constant since the divorce, since the move across three states, since starting at Westwood High where everyone already had their cliques cemented in concrete.

"They say goldfish have three-second memories," she whispered, pressing her forehead against the cool glass. "Must be nice. To just... forget everything."

Barnaby blew bubbles.

Her phone pinged. Unknown number.

Maya's heart hammered. She knew better than to respond—her mom had given her the whole stranger danger lecture approximately five thousand times. But her thumb was already moving, muscle memory from years of late-night texting sessions with friends who now ghosted her in the hallways.

*Look outside.*

Maya froze. Then she crept to her window, parting the blinds with shaking fingers.

Jordan stood on the sidewalk below, phone in hand, looking up at her room.

"Maya!" he stage-whispered. "I know you're up! Your phone's connected to your Bluetooth speakers again!"

Her heart did this ridiculous gymnastics routine. She leaned out the window. "You blocked me."

"Chloe stole my phone!" Jordan called back. "She sent that text from my account. She's been spreading rumors about both of us because we got partnered for the English project instead of her and her little cult."

Maya's brain couldn't compute it. "Wait—what?"

"I've been trying to fix it all day! But you wouldn't talk to me at school, and you blocked me back!" Jordan paused. "I brought evidence. And snacks. Also, my little sister's goldfish is sick and I know you have that tank setup thing, and—"

Maya laughed. She actually laughed, for the first time in 36 hours.

"Hold on," she said. "I'm coming down."

As she grabbed her hoodie, Maya caught Barnaby watching her through the glass. "Three seconds," she told him. "That's all it takes to ruin everything. Or fix it."

Her phone buzzed one more time.

*I'm sorry. Let's be friends again? Also, please bring fish supplies.*

Maya grinned, typed *OMW*, and slipped out into the night.