Why Goldfish Don't Text Back

Maya's goldfish, Bubbles, floated at the glass surface with that judgmental look he'd been giving her since seventh grade.

"You're literally overthinking again," she told him, then grabbed her iPhone off the duvet cover. The group chat was blowing up—someone had posted a screenshot of Jordan's story, and apparently the whole crew was playing padel at the new courts downtown.

Maya had been subtly (okay, not subtly) trying to get Jordan's attention for like, three months. But her padel skills were somewhere between "tragic" and "please don't watch."

Her mom's voice drifted up from the kitchen: "Maya! Spinach smoothie time!"

Gross. But she chugged it anyway because she was "trying new things" this year. New things like texting Jordan first. New things like showing up to padel even though she'd probably whiff every ball and faceplant on the court.

Her phone buzzed. Jordan: "u coming? courts are actually sick"

Maya's thumb hovered. Her heart did that thing where it forgot how to rhythm. This was it—the moment to be chill and confident and totally not awkward.

She texted back: "bet 🎾"

When she arrived at the courts, everyone was there. Jordan in those oversized sunglasses that somehow looked good. Her best friend Chen giving her that "you got this" eyebrow raise. The sun hitting the chain-link fences just right, making everything glow like the ending of a coming-of-age movie.

Then Maya laughed at something Jordan said, and Chen's face dropped.

"You have spinach in your teeth," Chen whispered.

Maya's soul left her body.

But then Jordan just laughed and handed her a padel racket. "Don't worry about it. I once played an entire match with my shoelaces untied and ate it on the first serve. Tripped over my own dignity."

"Wow," Maya said, "that's reassuring and concerning."

They played for hours. Maya missed approximately 80% of the balls. Her phone stayed in her bag. The group chat stayed unopened. And somewhere in her room, Bubbles the goldfish probably stopped judging her for once.

Later that night, her phone buzzed. Jordan: "today was fun. we should do it again."

Maya smiled, then remembered the spinach. Whatever. Some embarrassing moments were worth it.