Dead Girl Running

I felt like a literal zombie. Three days of cross-country practice will do that to you—especially when you're the slowest runner on the team and everyone knows it.

"You good, Maya?" Keisha asked, effortlessly jogging beside me while I gasped for air like a fish on dry land.

"Never better," I wheezed. "Just channeling my inner undead."

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Probably another post from Jordan—the ex-best friend who'd ditched me for the popular crowd freshman year. I'd been low-key spying on her Instagram for weeks, watching her living her perfect life without me. Pathetic, I know.

But today everything changed. Today was the day I'd finally talk to her at the pool party.

Back home, I chugged my mom's nasty vitamin gummy supplements—she swore they'd help with "teen growth" or whatever. If they couldn't make me faster, maybe they'd at least make me braver.

The pool was packed when I arrived. Bodies everywhere, music thumping, people laughing. I spotted Jordan immediately. Of course she looked perfect, surrounded by the same people who used to make fun of my hand-me-down swimsuits.

I jumped into the deep end. The water swallowed me whole, and suddenly I could breathe again. Swimming had always been my thing—the one place where I didn't feel slow, or awkward, or like the quiet girl who always came in last.

When I surfaced, Jordan was standing at the edge.

"Hey," she said. "I saw you running at practice yesterday. You've gotten faster."

I blinked water from my eyes. "You noticed?"

"I notice stuff." She hesitated. "I miss you, Maya."

The zombie feeling evaporated. Those stupid vitamins must've kicked in, because I actually said what I was thinking.

"Then why did you leave?"

"I didn't know how to be both," she said quietly. "Popular and your friend. I was scared."

She jumped in beside me, and we floated there while the party raged around us. Sometimes the people we think have everything are just running from their own ghosts.

"Race you to the other side," I said.

Jordan grinned. "You're on."

Maybe I wasn't so slow after all.