Poolside Panic

The spinach in my teeth was practically screaming at everyone to notice, and of course, the one person I wanted to impress was walking right toward me.

"Hey Marcus," Chloe said, flicking her hair off her shoulder like she does in all those Instagram posts. "You working all summer?"

I tried to smile without showing too many teeth. "Yeah. Saving for that car."

"Cool." She looked around the pool area. "This place is dead today."

It *was* dead—just a couple of kids in the shallow end and some old lady reading in a lounge chair. That's why I'd been sprinting toward the snack bar when my supervisor Jerry shouted that someone had left the gate open.

"The BULL got out!" some kid screamed, and suddenly everyone was running everywhere.

A massive bull—like, actual rodeo bull—came charging through the open gate, hooves clacking against the concrete. It headed straight for the pool like it owned the place.

I didn't think. I just ran toward it, waving my arms like an idiot. "HEY! OVER HERE!"

The bull skidded to a stop, snorted at me, and then—with what I swear was a smirk—pivoted and splashed into the deep end. The water churned as it swam around like a giant, angry dog.

Chloe was doubled over laughing, her phone out recording everything. "Did you just try to distract a bull?"

"I panicked!" I shouted over the splashing.

"That was actually kind of brave," she said, still laughing but looking at me different now. "Stupid, but brave."

By the time animal control showed up with their tranquilizer guns, the bull was casually paddling around the pool like it was on vacation. And Chloe sat next to me on the edge of the concrete, our legs dangling in the shallow end, watching the most ridiculous thing either of us had ever seen.

"You've still got spinach in your teeth," she whispered.

"Yeah, I know."

"Want me to get it out?"

My face burned hotter than the summer sun. "Please."

That afternoon with the bull and the spinach and the chaos became the first day of real summer. The first day of *us*.