Poolside Apocalypse

Marcus felt like a literal zombie. Three hours of sleep last night—thanks to that AP History paper he'd procrastinated on until 2 AM—and now he was stuck working the Friday shift at Splash Valley, the local water park where every socially conscious teen in Pine Creek converged to be seen.

"Yo, Marcus!" The voice cut through his fog like a chainsaw. Derek. The guy had been giving him grief since sixth grade, and somehow they'd both ended up as lifeguards this summer. "Nice zombie impression, man. You look dead inside."

"Funny," Marcus muttered, adjusting his whistle. His phone buzzed in his pocket—probably his mom asking if he'd submitted his college applications yet. Because that's what seventeen-year-olds wanted to think about while babysitting a bunch of middle-schoolers at the wave pool.

The pool area was chaos. Pre-teens screaming, parents aggressively relaxed on lounge chairs, and somewhere, the unmistakable sound of someone throwing up near the lazy river. Marcus scanned his zone like he'd been trained, but his brain was basically running on caffeine and desperation.

Then he saw her.

Chloe from his AP Lit class, standing at the edge of the pool in this totally unfair yellow bikini. She was laughing at something her friends said, and Marcus's heart did this embarrassing gymnastics routine. He'd been low-key crushing on her since October, when they'd been paired up for a poetry project and she'd actually laughed at his jokes.

But then there was Derek, making a beeline for her group with that confident swagger that Marcus could never pull off. Watch this be bull, Marcus thought. Derek's gonna swoop in with his varsity jacket energy and—

"MARCUS!" Someone screamed from the deep end.

He snapped into action. A kid was thrashing in the water, maybe cramping, maybe something worse. Marcus blew his whistle—three sharp blasts—and dove off the stand. Everything narrowed to the water, the struggling form, the distance between them.

He reached the kid, got an arm around him, kicked toward the surface. They broke water, gasping. "You good?" Marcus asked, adrenaline flooding his system.

"My leg," the kid choked out.

Marcus towed him to the edge where other lifeguards were already mobilizing. By the time they got the kid out safely, Marcus's entire zone was watching. Including Chloe.

"That was insane," she said later, when she found him by the break room, still drying off. "You were like, in total hero mode."

Marcus shrugged, trying to play it cool even though his hands were still shaking a little. "Just doing my job."

"No, seriously." Her eyes were earnest. "Derek was just standing there like a statue. You saved that kid's life."

Marcus glanced over at Derek, who was conspicuously avoiding eye contact. "Yeah, well. Someone had to."

"Hey," Chloe said, pulling out her phone. "I'm having people over tonight. My parents are out of town. You should come."

Marcus's zombie brain short-circuited. "Wait, really?"

"Unless you're too busy being a hero." She grinned. "9 o'clock. Don't make me regret this."

As she walked away, Marcus caught Derek's expression across the pool. For once, the guy had nothing to say.

Marcus wasn't so tired anymore.