Screen Deep

The charging cable dangled over the edge of the bunk bed, mocking me. Three percent. My iPhone had been dead for twelve hours, and I was going through withdrawal like a junkie in detox.

"You alive, Maya?" Jenna poked her head through the cabin door, swim bag slung over her shoulder. Breakfast was officially over, and morning activities were starting. Swim practice in twenty.

"Dying," I groaned, flopping onto my back. "My phone is dead. My life is over."

She rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck. "It's camp, not prison. Put it on the charger and come swimming. You know Coach will literally murder us if we're late again."

I dragged myself to the communal charging station in the main lodge, hunting for an open outlet like a desperate person. Found one behind a vending machine, plugged in my cable, and watched the battery icon light up. One percent. This was going to take forever.

The lake was sparkling when I finally made it down to the dock, but my mood was still stuck on loading screen. Jenna and the rest of the swim team were already practicing their starts, slicing through the water like they'd been born with gills. Meanwhile, I was still obsessing over how many notifications I'd missed.

"Earth to Maya," Tyler called from the water, dripping wet and annoyingly gorgeous. "You gonna bear witness to our awesomeness or actually join us?"

I stuck my tongue out at him but jumped in anyway. The shock of cold water hit me like a slap, and for the first time all day, my brain actually stopped buzzing. No notifications, no texts, no pressure to perform online. Just water, movement, and the ridiculous argument Tyler was having with Jenna about whether gummy vitamins counted as actual nutrition.

"They're literally candy with marketing," Tyler insisted, splashing water at her. "My mom puts them in my lunchbox like I'm five."

"Same!" I burst out laughing. "Mine does the vitamin C ones when she thinks I'm getting sick. I haven't been actually sick since seventh grade, but apparently it's better safe than sorry."

We treaded water there for a minute, three weirdos bonded by overbearing parents and sugary supplements, and something shifted. The constant low-level anxiety that had been my default setting for months suddenly felt lighter. Like maybe, just maybe, being disconnected from everything wasn't the end of the world.

By afternoon, my phone had charged to fifty percent. I checked it. Thirty-seven notifications. But instead of scrolling through them like I normally would, I tucked it into my bag and headed back to the lake. Jenna and Tyler were arguing about something stupid, and honestly? That was better than anything happening on my screen anyway.

Maybe summer camp wasn't so terrible after all.