Zombie at the Deep End

The chlorine hit Maya's nose before she even saw the pool. Friday night at Tyler's house, and somehow she'd let Kayla talk her into coming. No way was she swimming though — not in the bikini she'd bought online that fit weirdly in all the wrong places.

"You're literally just gonna stand there?" Kayla rolled her eyes, already toeing off her slides. "Live a little, bestie."

Maya adjusted her oversized t-shirt and positioned herself in the perfect chair: close enough to look involved, far enough to avoid actual water interaction. From here, she could spy on everyone comfortably. That was her superpower, anyway — observing without being noticed.

Tyler and his friends were doing cannonballs off the diving board, laughing way too loud. Jenna was pretending not to watch Tyler while simultaneously fixing her hair every time he surfaced. Classic. Maya felt like a zombie watching it all play out, same script every summer.

Then she noticed the new guy from English class sitting alone on the pool steps, phone in hand, looking as out of place as she felt. His name was Marcus or something? He'd moved here like two weeks ago.

Their eyes met for exactly one second before he looked away. Smooth.

Maya's phone buzzed. A group chat from people who weren't even here. 😴💀 She was missing memes for this?

"Hey."

She jumped. New Guy was standing there, dripping pool water onto the concrete, holding two sodas. "You looked like you might need this. You've been zombie-staring at your phone for ten minutes."

She laughed despite herself. "It's the vibe, honestly."

"I'm Marcus."

"Maya."

"You spying on everyone too?" He nodded toward the pool chaos.

"Professional sport," she said.

"Cool." He sat on the chair next to hers. "Wanna talk about how Tyler's been doing the same cannonball for twenty minutes and nobody cares?"

"Oh my god, YES."

And somewhere between roasting Tyler's form and complaining about summer reading, Maya realized she was having actual fun. The pool water gleamed behind them, the zombie fog lifted, and for the first time all night, she didn't feel like she was watching from the wrong side of the glass.

"So," Marcus said, "you gonna tell me why you're not swimming, or do I have to spy harder?"

She smiled. Maybe next time. Maybe tonight. "Wouldn't you like to know."