Zombie Mode at the Deep End

I was running on zero sleep and three energy drinks, basically operating in full zombie mode. Mia's end-of-summer pool party loomed like a social boss battle I hadn't leveled up for. The group chat had been blowing up all week with 'who's bringing what' and 'wear your cute suit,' and now I was standing at the gate in my Target two-piece while someone's little brother splashed in the shallow end screaming about a missing goldfish.

"It's fine," I whispered to myself. "Just normal swimming. With people. Totally normal."

"YO, Sarah!" Mia waved from the patio where she looked like an Instagram come to life, surrounded by the popular crew who somehow made everything look effortless. I'd been orbiting their friend group since freshman year, always the backup character in someone else's main character moment.

I slid into the pool, letting the water swallow me whole. Swimming had always been my thing – no awkward conversations, no overthinking every micro-expression, just movement and the peaceful blue silence. But then I surfaced to find Jake Matthews, who I'd had a crush on since he accidentally liked my Instagram story from March 2023, floating next to me.

"Hey," he said. "You good? You looked like you were contemplating swimming to the bottom and staying there."

"Honestly? Same." He laughed. "These things give me hives. I only came because my mom knows Mia's mom."

We hung out in the shallow end for twenty minutes, and it was weirdly easy. Jake was actually kind of awkward, which made zero sense because he was Jake Matthews, but here we were discussing how karaoke night at someone's sweet sixteen had us both considering faking illness.

Then tiny screams erupted from the deep end. "THE GOLDFISH!" A girl named Chloe pointed frantically. "It's in the pool! Someone get it!"

"I'll do it," I heard myself say, because apparently my brain had fully short-circuited. I dove under, spotted the tiny orange speck near the drain, and scooped it into my hands like I was rescuing a treasure.

When I surfaced, everyone was staring.

"That was actually sick," Jake said. "You're like, a hero now."

"I saved a fish from chlorinated doom," I said, laughing. "Peak high school experience."

Later, as we watched the goldfish get reunited with its bowl, Jake bumped my shoulder. "Hey, you doing anything tomorrow? Could get boba."

"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Walking home, I thought about how I'd spent the whole day worrying about being the zombie at the party – the awkward one who didn't know how to exist in rooms like that – but maybe everyone was kind of faking it. Maybe we were all just swimming around, hoping someone would think we were doing okay.