Poolside Zombies and Orange Dreams

I stood by the pool, clutching my plastic cup like it was a lifeline. Tyler's end-of-summer party raged around me—music thumping, girls squealing as guys shoved them into the water, laughter everywhere. I felt like a zombie, running on three hours of sleep and pure anxiety.

"Yo, Marcus!" Tyler called from the diving board. "Stop lurking and get in here!"

I forced a grin. "Nah, I'm good."

Truth was, I'd been crushing on Maya since seventh grade, and she was currently sitting on the pool edge with her feet in the water, wearing this orange bikini that made my brain short-circuit. Every time I tried to talk to her, I turned into some awkward version of myself that couldn't form complete sentences.

Then I saw it—a goldfish swimming near the surface. It kept darting between Maya's ankles like it was trying to get her attention.

"Is that... is that a goldfish in the pool?" Maya asked, pulling her feet out.

"Oh yeah," Tyler laughed. "My sister won them at the carnival last week. We figured they'd like the pool."

Goldfish. In a chlorinated pool. That's Tyler for you.

Maya stood up, water dripping down her legs, and walked over to where I stood. "Hey Marcus."

"Hey." Smooth. Really smooth.

"You gonna save the goldfish?" she teased.

"What?"

"You know, like, be their hero?" She smiled, and I noticed the little orange freckles scattered across her nose.

I looked at the poor goldfish, confused circles in the deep end. "Yeah. Actually, yeah I am."

I found a net in the garage and spent twenty minutes fishing out three tiny goldfish while everyone watched. Maya helped me transfer them to a bucket on the patio.

"You're weird," she said, dumping some orange soda into the bucket like that would help. "But like, in a good way."

"Weird good?"

"Weird good." She sat closer to me. "So, Marcus..."

"Yeah?"

"You gonna ask me to homecoming, or do I have to save you like a goldfish too?"

The zombie feeling evaporated. I wasn't tired anymore. I wasn't invisible. I was just a guy standing by a pool with a rescued goldfish and the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen.

"Maya," I said, finally finding my voice. "You wanna go to homecoming with me?"

"Finally," she whispered, and that single word made everything perfect.