Poolside Zombies

I felt like a straight-up zombie. Three weeks of finals, my brain literally mush, surviving on nothing but Red Bull and panic. My best friend Marcus had been texting me for days, but I'd been ghosting everything that wasn't a textbook.

"You're coming to Tyler's pool party tonight," Marcus announced, appearing in my doorway like he owned the place. "No arguments. You haven't left your room in forty-eight hours."

I groaned. "Dude, I'm literally dead inside."

"Exactly. You're like a zombie. Which is why we're going. You need to decompress before you spontaneously combust."

The pool party was everything I usually avoided: too loud, too many people, too much everything. But Marcus was right - I needed this. The water sparkled under string lights, people laughed, someone passed around pizzas. For the first time in weeks, my brain stopped screaming about calculus.

Then this sophomore Chad - who'd been acting like total bull all year, pushing people around, thinking he owned the place - started messing with Sarah, this quiet freshman. Nobody was saying anything. Chad loomed over her, all aggressive energy, and Sarah looked ready to cry.

I looked at Marcus. He looked at me. We both moved without speaking.

"Yo Chad," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "That's not it. Leave her alone."

"What you gonna do about it, zombie boy?" Chad shot back, puffing up.

Then Marcus stepped beside me. And then Tyler. And then like half the pool party. Chad's face fell as he realized literally no one was backing him up.

"Actually," Marcus said, "we're all done with your bull. Time to bounce."

Chad left. The party kept going like nothing happened, but everything had changed. Sarah gave me this tiny, grateful smile.

Later, floating in the pool under the stars, Marcus bumped my shoulder. "See? Not dead yet."

I laughed. For real laughed. "Yeah. Thanks for the rescue."

"That's what friends are for," he said. "Now let's never talk about finals again."

For the first time in weeks, I didn't feel like a zombie anymore. Just a teenager who maybe, just maybe, was figuring this stuff out.