The Cable That Changed Everything

Marcus felt like a **zombie**—proper, brain-dead, dragging-yourself-through-life zombie. Three straight nights of raiding until 3am will do that to you. But it was summer before sophomore year, and honestly? Worth it.

"You coming to Jenna's pool party?" Ty texted. Marcus stared at his phone, chest doing that weird fluttery thing. He'd been lowkey crushing on Jenna since seventh period English, when she'd laughed at his terrible pun about calcium.

The problem: Marcus. In water. In swim trunks. In front of everyone.

He'd been swimming in anxiety about this all week. His brain was spiraling—what if he looked awkward? What if he DID something awkward? What if everyone noticed how NOT he was?

Then disaster struck. Literally. His internet **cable** died. No warning, just *blink* and darkness. His dad was at work, mom at yoga, and Marcus was left staring at a router that had betrayed him.

"Fine," he muttered. "I'll go."

He showed up at Jenna's house wearing his longest board shorts (still felt too short) and a tank that basically swallowed him. But then something weird happened. People didn't care. They were too busy doing cannonball contests and arguing about whether chorizo or pepperoni was superior pizza topping.

"Marcus! Finally!" Jenna waved him over. "Tyler said you might not come."

"Yeah, my internet died, so—"

"Thank GOD for that," she laughed. "Now you can actually hang out instead of being a gaming ghost all summer."

She called him a ghost, which was close enough to zombie that he actually snorted. And then he was in the pool, splashing water everywhere, laughing so hard his sides hurt, not thinking about how he looked or who was watching.

Later that night, Marcus lay in bed staring at his ceiling. His internet cable was still dead. His body was exhausted from actual human interaction. His phone buzzed.

Jenna: today was actually fun. you should come over tomorrow

Marcus grinned at his phone. He could get used to this whole being-a-real-person thing.