Orange Trunks & Zombie Eyes

Miguel dragged himself to Jenna's pool party feeling like a straight-up zombie. Three AM Fortnite sessions will do that to you. His mom had bought him these bright orange swim trunks from some discount bin, and he'd been trying to ditch them all summer. But there he was, standing at the edge of the pool in neon-orange glory while everyone else looked like they'd stepped out of a TikTok fashion trend.

The party was peak high school chaos - seniors blasting playlists, middle schoolers trying way too hard to fit in, and somewhere a dog barking at absolutely nothing. Miguel spotted Jake Rodriguez, the baseball captain, laughing with his friends near the deep end. Jake was everything Miguel wasn't: effortlessly cool, always surrounded by people, probably got more than three hours of sleep.

"Hey, Orange!" someone yelled. Miguel froze. Then he realized they were talking to him. Of course they were.

He dove into the pool to escape, underwater silence washing over him like a reset button. When he surfaced, he saw Jake holding something familiar - Miguel's childhood teddy bear keychain, which had fallen off his bag. The one he'd forgotten to remove because he was too busy feeling like a zombie and stressing about orange trunks.

"This is vintage," Jake said, grinning. "My little sister has one just like this. She'd kill for this limited edition variant."

Miguel's face burned. "Yeah, I was just... keeping it safe for her."

Jake tossed the bear back. "Nice cover, dude. Wanna play baseball? We're setting up a game in the yard. No orange trunks required."

For the first time that day, Miguel didn't feel like a zombie. He felt like someone who might actually belong.