Poolside Undead

Marcus stood at the edge of the community pool, clutching his vitamin D supplement bottle like a lifeline. The annual end-of-school pool party. Every social clique from freshman year to graduating seniors was there, and Marcus, who'd spent the last three years basically ghosting through high school, was about to do the most reckless thing imaginable: actually participate.

"Yo Marcus! You coming in or what?" Jake called from the water, splashing dramatically. Jake, who'd been his best friend in middle school before Marcus got weird and distant.

"Yeah, yeah," Marcus muttered, feeling like a total zombie. Three years of sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, you know, living had turned him into someone who didn't know how to people anymore. The irony wasn't lost on him—he took all these vitamins and supplements to stay healthy, but he was socially malnourished.

He jumped in.

The water hit him like ice. For a second, he couldn't breathe, and he panicked, arms flailing like he was fighting off a grizzly bear or something equally ridiculous. Then he surfaced, gasping, to find everyone laughing—not at him, with him.

"Dude, you look like you just saw a zombie!" Jake said, swimming over. "Bro, it's just water."

Marcus started laughing too, actually laughing, and it felt foreign but amazing. "My bad, guys. I've been... hibernating."

"Well, wake up, Sleeping Beauty," Maya said, floating nearby on a neon pink noodle. "We've been trying to get you to come to one of these things since like, ninth grade."

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of chlorine, cannonballs, and conversations that weren't as terrifying as Marcus had built them up in his head. He learned that Maya was obsessed with horror movies and had a zombie apocalypse survival plan. He found out that Jake had taken those same vitamin supplements last year until he realized they tasted like chalk. He even agreed to go to the mall with them tomorrow.

As Marcus walked home, still damp and exhausted, he realized something: he wasn't a zombie anymore. He was just a guy who'd spent too long hiding in his cave, too scared to come out and face the world. But he was swimming now, finally, and the water was fine.

He pulled out his phone and texted Jake: "Tomorrow at the mall. Don't bail."

The response came instantly: "Wouldn't dream of it. 😜"

Marcus grinned, feeling more alive than he had in years. The vitamins could wait—this was real nourishment.