Dead Battery Summer

Marcus dragged himself out of the pool at 6 AM, feeling like a straight-up zombie. Three weeks of summer swim practice would do that to you — turn you into the walking dead before sunrise. His arms felt like noodles, his eyes burned from chlorine, and the only thing keeping him upright was pure, stubborn spite.

He shuffled to the bench where his iPhone sat, screen lighting up with notifications. Instagram stories from the party he'd bailed on. Snap from Jordan. His lifeline, his security blanket, his everything.

"Yo, Marcus, you good?" It was Chloe, the baseball pitcher with the messy ponytail and the crooked grin that made his stomach do actual flips. She sat next to him, dripping wet, wiping chlorine from her face with the back of her hand.

"Yeah. Just. Dead."

She laughed, this sound that was basically sunshine. "Tell me about it. Coach had us running bases until I literally saw Jesus."

He stared at his phone, thumb hovering over Jordan's Snap. Why was this so hard? Just talk to her. She was RIGHT THERE.

"Hey," Chloe said, nudging his shoulder with hers. "You ever gonna actually look up from that thing, or you married to it?"

Marcus's face burned. "Sorry. Force of habit."

"Put it away. Live in the actual world for like, five minutes."

He did. It was terrifying. The silence stretched between them, filled with pool sounds and distant chatter and his own thudding heart.

"So," she said, "you hitting the invitational meet next weekend?"

"Yeah. Probably gonna get smoked though."

"You'll be fine. You've been dropping time like crazy. I watched your 100 free yesterday." She looked at him, really looked at him. "You're like, actually good."

The compliment hit him harder than any wall he'd ever hit off a block. His phone buzzed on the bench, ignored.

"Thanks," he managed. "You coming?"

"Baseball tournament same day. But maybe after? If you're not doing that zombie thing you do where you disappear into your screen for three days after races."

He laughed. "I can work with that."

His phone battery died at 12%. He didn't even care. For the first time all summer, Marcus felt awake.