Zombies at the Pool Party

Maya's palms were sweating—not like cute nervous palms, but full-on disaster palms—as she stood at the edge of Jenna's pool party. She'd spent all summer watching every zombie movie on cable (her parents refused to pay for streaming services, saying cable was plenty), and now she felt like one of those shambling extras, just walking through motions.

"You coming in or what?" called Tyler, floating on a massive inflatable bear that had seen better summers. He was the reason she was even here. Tyler, with his stupid perfect hair and his ability to make everything look effortless.

Maya's best friend Sam, currently submerged up to her nose in the chlorinated water, shot Maya the look. The one that said 'stop overthinking and just live.'

The swimming thing wasn't the issue—Maya was on the swim team, could probably lap half these people. But being in a swimsuit at a party where Tyler existed? That was different.

"I'm good," Maya called back, but her voice cracked. Smooth. So smooth.

"Come on!" Jenna, whose backyard this was, motioned from her lawn chair. "My mom made those zombie cupcakes from that show you're always talking about. You can't miss cupcakes."

Maya's stomach did this thing where it forgot how to be a stomach. She'd been up until 3am watching cable marathons with Sam, dissecting why zombie apocalypse protagonists always made terrible decisions. Now she was one, paralyzed at the edge of a pool because talking to a boy was somehow scarier than the undead.

Sam surfaced, water streaming down her face. "Maya, if you don't get in here, I'm telling everyone about your Tumblr."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

Maya's palms pressed against her thighs. Fine. Whatever. She kicked off her sandals and slid into the water, cool relief rushing up her legs as she waded deeper. Tyler paddled his inflatable bear closer, the plastic making soft squeaking sounds against the water.

"Hey," he said, like it was nothing.

"Hey," Maya said back, and somehow, miraculously, didn't die.

"You're Maya, right? From calculus?"

"That's me."

"Cool. I'm Tyler, obviously." He gestured at the bear. "My sister's. I'm babysitting it, apparently."

Maya laughed—really laughed, not the fake one she'd been practicing. "It's a noble responsibility."

"Exactly." He grinned. "So, zombie movies on cable—that's your thing?"

She blinked. "You heard that?"

"Jenna's loud." He shrugged. "But yeah, same. Last summer I watched, like, everything on Netflix."

Maya's palms stopped sweating. The zombie feeling faded. Sometimes you just had to jump in.