Dead Weight at the Deep End

Maya stood at the edge of the **pool**, clutching her phone like it was a lifeline. Which, technically, it was—she'd spent the entire summer doom-scrolling through everyone else's perfect lives while hers felt like a **zombie** apocalypse: slow, agonizing, and she was the only one not getting eaten by something called fun.

"You coming in or what?" called Tyler, the guy she'd been crushing on since eighth grade, currently doing cannonballs that made actual splash.

"Just checking something," Maya lied. Her **cable** internet at home had been out for three days, forcing her to survive on mobile data and parental judgment about screen time. The irony wasn't lost on her—she was literally disconnected while everyone else was living their best lives.

"Maya, seriously," her best friend Chenya hissed, swimming over. "You've been **bearing** the weight of that social anxiety backpack all summer. Tyler is literally asking you to swim. This is not rocket science."

Maya snorted. "Bearing? Really? Since when do you use SAT words?"

"Since I started using WordHog to prep for, like, actually getting into college," Chenya said. "Unlike some people who've been zombie-walking through July."

"I'm not zombie-walking," Maya protested weakly.

"You're literally at a **pool** party in ninety-degree heat wearing jeans and a hoodie. You're not even trying to be alive right now."

Tyler swam over, dripping wet and annoyingly attractive. "Everything good? You look... thoughtful."

"I'm contemplating existence," Maya said, then immediately regretted it. God, why was she like this?

"Cool," Tyler said, like it was the most normal response ever. "You should contemplate it in the pool. It's deep."

Maya looked at the water. Looked at her hoodie. Looked at Tyler, who wasn't laughing at her, just... waiting.

Fine.

She jumped in, fully clothed, and the world went quiet underwater. When she surfaced, sputtering and heavy as a **bear** in winter, everyone was staring. Then Tyler grinned and splashed her, and Chenya yelled "FINALLY," and for the first time all summer, Maya didn't feel like a zombie. She felt like someone who was maybe, possibly, starting to figure out how to be alive.

"So," Tyler said, paddling closer. "You wanna get pizza after? My treat. Since you're all wet and stuff."

Maya wiped water from her eyes and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

Sometimes you had to jump in fully clothed to realize you could swim all along.