Signal Lost

The cable cut out right as Maya was about to confess. Five friends sat around the flickering TV in her basement, watching zombie movies for the third Friday in a row. The screen went black, and someone — probably Leo — let out this dramatic groan like he'd actually died.

"Bet you five bucks it's the zombie apocalypse," said Jax, who'd been making eyes at Maya since seventh grade. Not that she noticed. Okay, she noticed. She just pretended not to.

"You're on," said Leo, who honestly looked like one of the zombies they'd been watching — pale, dark circles under his eyes, moving in this slow shuffle because he'd been up until 4 AM gaming. Again. Classic Leo behavior.

They ended up at the community pool, which was technically closed but whatever. The gate was totally open, probably because some freshman forgot to lock it again. The water reflected these eerie blue-green lights from the streetlamps, making everything feel dreamlike and slightly wrong.

"Race you," Jax said, already pulling off his hoodie.

Maya hesitated. She'd been self-conscious about her body since, like, forever — the changing room incidents of middle school still haunted her. But Jax just stood there, grinning like an idiot, waiting. So she dove in.

The shock of cold water hit her like physical courage. When she surfaced, Jax was already there, treading water, looking at her in this way that made her stomach do this weird flip thing.

"You're not a zombie," he said, quietly.

"What?"

"Today at lunch. You were just... staring. Like you'd checked out. I was gonna say something but I didn't know how."

Maya felt seen in a way that scared her. "Just. A lot going on. With my parents, and —"

"I get it," he said. And somehow, she believed him.

They floated there in the pool as Leo and the others messed around on the diving board, shouting about zombie survival strategies. The cable was still out. The movie was abandoned. And somehow, this accidental moment felt more real than anything scripted.

"Hey Jax?"

"Yeah?"

"I think the cable cutting out was the best thing that happened all night."

He smiled, and it wasn't his usual jokester smile. "Yeah. Me too."