Chlorine Dreams
The water in Miller's pool glowed that fake electric blue, the kind that makes everyone's skin look weird. Maya stood at the edge in her oversized tee, her heart doing that thing where it forgot its rhythm. Freshman year. The ultimate social hierarchy reset, and here she was, invited to THE party.
"Yo Maya! You gonna stand there all day or actually vibe?" Carlos called, doing a terrible cannonball that sent water everywhere. He'd been her elementary school best friend, but now he ran with the popular crowd.
She hesitated. Then her phone buzzed. Marcus, her online gaming buddy who'd been walking her through her zombie apocalypse obsession for months, had sent a meme: Zombies at a pool party be like 🧟♀️💀
She laughed, surprising herself. She cannonballed in.
The chlorine hit her eyes like stinging stars. When she surfaced, Carlos was floating near her with this giant orange slice from the fruit platter, looking like he was about to offer it as some kind of peace treaty.
"What's up with you these days?" he asked, actually sounding confused instead of just performing for his audience. "You used to be obsessed with actual zombie stuff, now you're always on your phone."
She treaded water, considering. "I'm still obsessed. I just found my people. Not everyone gets it like you used to."
Carlos held the orange slice above the water like some kind of offering. "I still do. I was waiting for you to show me that new zombie show everyone's talking about. My brother's been bingeing it."
Maya stared. "Wait, seriously?"
"Duh. Why do you think I invited you? I miss my zombie queen."
She swam over and took a segment of the orange. It was sweet and tart and perfect.
"Alright then," she said, floating on her back and looking up at the stars finally visible through the humidity. "But Marcus is watching with us. He's been schooling me on zombie lore for months."
"Deal," Carlos said. "But I'm bringing more orange soda. That stuff we liked in sixth grade."
"You remember that?"
"Of course. Some things don't change, zombie queen."