Zombies By The Deep End

Maya stood by the edge of the pool, clutching her red solo cup like it was a lifeline. The Friday night party raged behind her—Lauren's parents were out of town, which meant half the sophomore class was currently packed into the backyard, most of them already wasted. Maya felt like a total zombie, operating on autopilot while her brain was somewhere else entirely.

"Hey, you're Maya, right?"

She turned to find Jake—the Jake—who'd moved here in October and immediately become the school's official hotness. He had this messy dark hair that somehow looked perfect and eyes that were annoyingly deep.

"Yeah," she managed, trying to sound chill and failing spectacularly.

"Cool party," he said, gesturing vaguely at the chaos. "I've been here twenty minutes and already witnessed two people throw up in the bushes. Quality entertainment."

Maya laughed despite herself. "That's Brentwood High for you. We keep it classy."

They stood there for a moment, and she was suddenly excruciatingly aware of how she must look—hair already frizzing in the humidity, makeup probably melting off her face, while she was trying to bear the weight of having a conversation with the guy she'd been crushing on for months without making a complete fool of herself.

"So," Jake said, "are you gonna tell me what's actually on your mind, or are we gonna keep pretending to care about Brent's projectile vomiting?"

Maya blinked. That was unexpected. "What?"

"You've been staring at the water like it holds the answers to the universe," he said, nodding toward the pool. "Either you're really deep in thought, or you're plotting something."

She felt her face heat up. "Maybe I'm just tired of everyone acting like this is the most important night of our lives."

"Same," he said, surprising her again. "I'd honestly rather be literally anywhere else."

"Then why are you here?"

"Social obligation," he said, making air quotes. "Plus, my mom thinks I need to 'put myself out there.'" He rolled his eyes. "How about you?"

Maya looked at the water again—the pool lights made it look like something magical and otherworldly, like the sphinx's riddle pool from that mythology unit they'd done in English last year. All the answers were supposedly at the bottom, if you were brave enough to dive in.

"I'm here because..." She paused, really thinking about it. "Because I don't know who I'm supposed to be yet, and I figured maybe this is what normal teenagers do."

"Yeah, well," Jake said, "I've got news for you—normal teenagers are all just zombies pretending to know what they're doing. The bull everyone keeps feeding us about 'finding yourself' is just that. BS."

Maya looked at him, really looked at him, and saw something she hadn't expected—he looked just as lost as she felt.

"Hey," he said, "wanna get out of here? There's this diner on 4th Street that's actually open late. I've heard their milkshakes are life-changing."

She considered it for maybe half a second before deciding to trust her gut. "Lead the way."