Midnight Wake Up Call

I'd been zombie-walking through junior year since spring break—phone scrolling past 3 AM, energy drinks for breakfast, going through the motions like my life had a script I hadn't written. Even Milo, our golden retriever who'd been my shadow since fourth grade, side-eyed me when I petted him with zero actual attention.

Then Jordan texted at 11:47 PM on a Tuesday: pool open. u in?

Jordan. The friend who'd ghosted me after she transferred to private school last semester. The friend whose Instagram stories showed a life I wasn't part of anymore.

My mom was already asleep. Milo lifted his head from his bed like, you're really doing this?

I grabbed my swimsuit and slipped out the window. Something about midnight swimming had always felt illegal in the best way—like breaking a rule that existed only to prove you could.

Jordan was already in the water when I got there, floating on her back and staring at the sky. No filter, no angles, just Jordan. Something I hadn't seen in months.

"You look like a zombie," she said when I slipped in. The water hit my skin and suddenly I was awake. Like, actually awake. Not caffeine-fake awake, but the kind that reminded you what being alive felt like.

"Rough semester," I admitted, treading water beside her.

"Private school's not better," she said, surprising me. "Just different. I miss people who know who I actually am."

We swam in silence for a while, the kind that's not awkward but necessary. The kind you can only have with someone who's seen you at your worst and still showed up.

Milo would've hated it here—he hated getting wet—but in that moment, I realized I'd been living for everyone else's expectations since Jordan left. Zombie mode was easier than admitting I was lonely. Than admitting I missed my friend.

"Wanna come over tomorrow?" Jordan asked. "Milo probably misses me too."

Something in my chest loosened. "Only if you're okay with him shedding on everything."

She laughed, and it sounded exactly like it used to.

The zombie walk home felt different. I was still exhausted, still had calculus homework due, still didn't have everything figured out. But I wasn't going through the motions anymore. I was actually living them.