Zombie at the Pool Party

I felt like a **zombie** all week. Finals had turned my brain to mush, and when Maya texted me about Tyler's pool party, I almost said no. But then again, when the most popular girl in sophomore year invites you, you don't say no. You just show up, even if your sleep-deprived self is practically shambling through life.

The party was already jumping when I arrived. Kids I'd known since middle school were cannonballing into the **pool**, music thumping from Bluetooth speakers, someone laughing so hard they snorted. I stood by the fence, feeling painfully uncool in my one-piece while everyone else seemed to have stepped out of a TikTok.

That's when I noticed her—Lila, the girl I'd been lowkey **spy**ing on since she moved here three months ago. Not in a creepy way. Just... admiring from afar across the cafeteria, watching her art projects in the hallway, memorizing her laugh when it echoed through the school.

And there she was, sitting alone by the deep end, looking just as out of place as I felt. Her purple hair was damp, her phone clutched in her hand like a lifeline. She caught me watching and quickly looked away.

My heart did that stupid flutter thing. This was it—my chance to finally say something. But what? Hey, I've been basically stalking you across campus for months, wanna hang?

'Zombie mode?' a voice asked beside me.

I jumped. Lila had somehow materialized next to me, droplets of pool water still clinging to her arms.

'What?'

'You've been staring at nothing for five minutes straight,' she said, half-smiling. 'I recognize that look. It's the post-finals zombie apocalypse.'

I laughed, actually laughed. 'You have no idea.'

'I heard you're in Mr. Chen's AP Bio,' she said. 'How'd you survive the practical?'

We talked for twenty minutes about everything and nothing—tests, teachers, how much we both hated group projects. The party noise faded into background. The zombie feeling evaporated, replaced by something warm and electric in my chest.

'So,' Lila said, 'there's this underground art show downtown next weekend. You wanna come?'

My brain short-circuited. 'Yeah. Absolutely.'

She grinned, and it was better than anything I'd imagined from across the cafeteria. 'Cool. Text you.'

As she walked back toward the pool, I realized something: I hadn't been living half my life. I'd just been moving through it like the undead. But somehow, in the chaos of splashing water and teenage drama, I'd finally woken up.