Poolside Zombies & Fox Alerts

The August heat wave had turned everyone at Jessica's pool party into zombies. I mean actual zombies—limp, groaning, barely functioning. Even the playlist had given up, switching from hype beats to something slow and atmospheric that matched our collective exhaustion.

"Dude, pass me your iPhone," Marcus said, sprawled across a patio chair like a starfish. "I need to document this tragedy."

I handed it over, watching him snap photos of everyone's misery. My phone buzzed in my pocket—probably my mom asking when I'd be home, or worse, my summer college APWH notifications. I ignored it. Some things couldn't wait.

That's when I saw her.

The fox.

Okay, not an actual fox—though that would've been wild. But Lila had this reputation, this cunning way of moving through social situations that earned her the nickname. She was new, mysterious, and apparently immune to the zombie curse affecting everyone else. She was actually swimming, doing laps like the heat was nothing.

"You gonna stare all day or actually say something?" Marcus nudged me, handing back my phone. "She's not gonna bite. Probably."

"Shut up," I muttered, but my heart was racing. This was it. The moment I'd been psyching myself up for all summer.

I walked to the pool's edge, knuckles white against the iPhone still clutched in my hand like a lifeline. Lila pulled herself from the water, water droplets catching sunlight like diamonds, and shook out her hair like she was in a movie.

"You're not dead yet," she said, smiling. "Impressive."

"Hanging in there," I managed. "Want to split a strawberry Fanta? I've got an entire stash in the cooler."

Her grin widened. "Only if you promise not to zombie out on me. I need someone to keep it real."

The rest of the party blurred into something actual—like, memory actual. We spent hours by the pool, talking about everything and nothing while the other zombies eventually revived and joined in. My iPhone died halfway through, and honestly? Best thing that could've happened.

Sometimes the best moments happen when you're too exhausted to overthink, too hot to care about being cool, and brave enough to just say hey to the fox everyone warned you about but nobody actually knew.

Worth every zombie groan.