Zombie at the Deep End

I felt like a zombie at Tyler's pool party. Socially dead, shuffling through the crowd with my phone clutched like a lifeline, waiting for someone to notice I was literally drowning in awkward silence.

"Hey, you gonna swim or just stand there looking like you're contemplating your existence?" This was Chloe, the human sphinx of our grade. Beautiful, mysterious, and constantly asking questions that felt like riddles I couldn't solve.

"Just... thinking about it," I managed. My voice cracked. Smooth.

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "That water's not gonna bite. Unless you're scared of getting wet?"

"I'm good," I lied, even though I could feel sweat trickling down my back.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. "Storm's coming," she observed. "Perfect weather for swimming."

Then lightning flashed across the sky, bright enough to make everyone look up. In that split second, I saw Chloe's phone screen light up too. A text from someone named Alex: "this party sucks without u"

She caught me looking and quickly locked her phone. "What?"

"Nothing." But then I realized—she was standing at the edge of the pool just like me. Not swimming. Not talking to anyone. Just... waiting.

"You know what," I said, surprising myself, "I'm actually kinda scared of deep water."

Chloe's expression shifted. "Really?"

"Yeah. pathetic, right?"

She considered this for a moment. "Actually... I don't know how to swim."

"Wait, what?"

"My parents never signed me up for lessons. Too busy, I guess." She looked down. "I just come to these things to look like I have a social life."

The thunder grew closer, and people started scattering toward the house. "We should probably go inside," I said.

"Or," Chloe said, "we could teach eachother. Like, toe-dip level. Neither of us drowns, we don't look like total losers, and we can say we actually did something at this party."

I looked at her, really looked at her, and realized she wasn't a sphinx at all. She was just another person trying to figure out how to exist in high school without completely embarrassing herself.

"Deal," I said.

As we sat at the pool's edge, feet dangling in the water, I didn't feel like a zombie anymore. I felt like someone who might have just made a real friend.