The Pool Where We Drowned Our Expectations

Marcus dragged his feet toward the community pool, the late June heat already making his **baseball** jersey stick to his back like a second skin he couldn't shed. Coach Bennett had been clear about "summer conditioning," but Marcus was clear about not spending his entire fifteenth year throwing balls at people who threw them back better.

"You coming to Jessica's party?" Tyler called from across the parking lot, already surrounded by the teammates Marcus had successfully avoided all week. "Her parents got **cable** in the basement. We're doing a zombie marathon."

Marcus shrugged, something he'd gotten annoyingly good at since middle school. When had everything gotten so complicated? When did hanging out require strategic planning and emotional cost-benefit analysis?

The pool gate squeaked. That familiar, childhood summer sound. Inside, the water glittered like something you'd see in a movie about kids who actually had their lives together.

Then he saw her.

Lena, from his English class, sat at the edge of the pool, her legs in the water, reading a book like she didn't care that everyone else was at Jessica's party **swimming** in expectations and awkwardness.

"Don't," she said without looking up.

Marcus stopped. "Don't what?"

"Don't do that thing where you pretend you're not here, then figure out an escape route, then leave feeling like you missed something." She finally looked at him, and her eyes were annoyingly perceptive. "I saw you at school. You're always **zombie**-walking through the halls like you're secretly dead and nobody told you."

Marcus laughed before he could stop himself. "Wow. Tell me how you really feel."

"I'm serious." She patted the concrete beside her. "Sit. The water's perfect, and Tyler's party sounds like a nightmare of people performing versions of themselves."

So Marcus sat, and they talked about everything and nothing until the pool lights flickered on, and for the first time in months, his brain didn't feel like a browser with too many tabs open.

"You know," Lena said, closing her book, "you're actually kind of funny when you stop trying to be invisible."

"Yeah, well." Marcus watched the water ripple around his ankles. "Maybe I'm done with that."

She smiled, and it was better than any party playlist. "Good. Because being seen is actually pretty okay sometimes."