Poolside Undead

I felt like a zombie every morning at 5:30 AM when my alarm went off for swim practice. The Monday after homecoming was worse than usual—I was still running on the fumes of three hours sleep and way too much punch.

"You look like the walking dead," Maya whispered as I slid into the lane next to her.

"Thanks, that's exactly the vibe I was going for," I shot back, adjusting my goggles. The pool lights flickered overhead, casting weird shadows on the water.

Coach Miller blew his whistle. "Last night doesn't matter anymore. What matters is sectionals in two weeks. Let's see what you've got."

The cold water shocked me awake as I pushed off the wall. Being a zombie swimmer was actually kind of perfect—no overthinking, no expectations, just arms pulling, legs kicking, breathe, repeat. It was almost meditative, until I heard a collective groan from the deck.

"Great, the cable's out again," someone said.

Coach Miller was trying to pull up the workout playlist on his phone, but the WiFi was down. Again. Our pool had the worst connection in the whole school district.

"Fine, we're doing it old school," he announced. "Toughen up, princesses. You don't need music to swim fast."

But then Maya, who never spoke up, called out, "I have a portable speaker in my locker. And my phone has everything downloaded."

"Do it," I heard myself say. Because this was junior year, and I was tired of being the quiet one who never made waves, literally or figuratively.

So there we were, swimming to Maya's playlist—unexpectedly cool indie stuff that nobody knew she liked—and suddenly practice felt different. Less zombie, more alive.

"Nice saves today," she said afterward, when we were both wrapped in towels watching the sunrise through the high windows.

"Yeah, well," I shrugged, "someone had to rescue us from the silence."

"We make a good team," she said, and the way she smiled made me think maybe being awake at 5:30 wasn't so bad after all.

Some days you feel like a zombie. Some days you find your people in the most unexpected places. And sometimes, the worst days turn into the ones you can't forget.