The Summer the Cable Died

The entire neighborhood's cable died on the hottest day of July, and honestly? It was the best thing that could've happened.

I was supposed to be in my room, doom-scrolling through summer like a zombie, barely existing between Fortnite matches and weird hours. But when the WiFi sputtered out that afternoon, something shifted. My brother grabbed his old baseball bat from the closet and shouted, "POOL. NOW."

The Rodriguez's pool was already packed – everyone else had the same idea. Maya was there, of course, looking like she'd just stepped out of a TikTok, her palm resting on the concrete edge as she laughed at something Carlos said. I'd been crushing on her since seventh grade, and my usual strategy was strategic invisibility.

"LEO!" Carlos waved me over. "We need another player for zombie baseball."

"Zombie what?" I asked, already wading into the cool water.

"Zombie baseball," Maya explained, grinning. "One person's the zombie with a pool noodle. Everyone else tries to hit actual baseballs into the pool without getting tagged. If you get tagged, you're infected. Last human standing wins."

It was chaotic and weird and absolutely glorious. I ended up as the final human against Maya as zombie, both of us breathless and soaked, hair plastered to our faces. When she finally tagged me, we both went under, surfacing laughing.

Later, we sat on the pool deck with our feet in the water, watching the sun dip behind the palm trees.

"You know," Maya said, examining her palm like she was reading her fortune, "I used to think you were quiet."

"I am quiet," I protested.

"Nah. You're just... selective." She bumped my shoulder with hers. "That zombie move? When you faked left and went right? That was alley-oop material."

I felt something unclench in my chest. Maybe the cable outage wasn't a disaster. Maybe it was exactly what I needed.

"Same time tomorrow?" I asked, already daring to hope.

Maya smiled. "Only if you're ready to lose again."

I grinned back. "Bring it, zombie."