Zombie State of Mind

Mateo pulled his hat lower, trying to disappear into the brim. The buzz cut his mom had talked him into over spring break made him feel exposed, like his hair had betrayed him. Now at Jordan's pool party, everyone was either cannonballing into the water or showing off their perfect summer waves.

"Yo, Mateo! Padel?" Jordan called from the court. "We need a fourth."

Padel. This weird tennis-squash hybrid that Jordan's Spanish exchange student had introduced to the group. Mateo had never played, but saying no meant standing by the pool alone, watching everyone else have fun.

"Sure," he said, then immediately regretted it.

The game was chaos. Jordan's crush Aisha was his partner, and she kept laughing at his terrible serves. But after twenty minutes, something clicked. Mateo's competitive instinct kicked in. He stopped overthinking every shot and started playing on instinct.

"Dude, you're actually good at this," Aisha said, bumping his fist.

For the first time all day, Mateo forgot about his hair. He forgot about feeling like a social zombie, the kind who hovered on the edges of conversations and never quite said the right thing. He was just playing.

They won three games straight. Sweat dripped down his back, his hat was gross, but he didn't care.

"Water time," Aisha announced, grabbing his arm and dragging him toward the pool. "You too, winner boy."

Before he could protest, she shoved him in.

The water was perfect. When he surfaced, everyone was cheering. Jordan tossed him his phone. "Dude, your hat—"

It was floating in the pool. His buzz cut was fully exposed.

Mateo waited for the laugh. The comment. The reminder of how different he looked.

"Finally," Aisha said. "I've been trying to get a good look at that cut all day. It's actually kinda sick."

"Yeah," Jordan nodded. "Looks way better than that hat you've been hiding under all week."

Mateo touched his wet hair. Maybe, just maybe, he didn't need to feel like a zombie in his own life anymore. He'd survived the padel court, the pool, and the hat removal. Summer might actually be okay.