Zombies Don't Swim

Maya's palms were sweating so bad she could barely grip her phone. The pool party invite had been sitting in her messages for three days, and she'd spent approximately 47 of those hours overthinking whether to come.

"You're literally going to look like a zombie if you don't sleep," her brother had joked that morning. He wasn't wrong. Between finals week and her sudden inability to stop thinking about whether Jake from chemistry would even NOTICE her new swimsuit, she'd averaged four hours of sleep nightly.

Now she stood at the gate, Cooper—her family's chaotic golden retriever—pulling at his leash like he'd never seen water before. Her mom had insisted she bring him, something about "socializing the poor thing" and how Cooper needed exposure to... parties?

"Maya! You made it!" It was Chloe, bouncing over with the effortless confidence Maya would sell her soul for. "Omg, is this Cooper? He's SO cute!" She dropped to her knees, and Cooper immediately decided he was in love, wagging his tail so hard his whole body shook.

The backyard was exactly what Maya had dreaded: people everywhere, music thumping, the pool reflecting sunlight like it was personally trying to blind her. Jake WAS there, shirt off, looking annoyingly perfect while some girl hung on his every word.

Maya's chest tightened. This was a mistake.

Then Cooper saw the pool.

Before she could react, he bolted—leash slipping from her sweaty palm—and launched himself into the water with a joyful bark. Splash.

Silence. Then laughter.

Maya wanted to evaporate. But then Jake was there, helping haul a soaking wet, increasingly excited Cooper out of the water, grinning like this was the best thing that had ever happened at a pool party. "Dude, your dog is a LEGEND," he said, water dripping from his hair.

And just like that, Maya wasn't the anxious girl in the corner anymore. She was the girl whose dog had crashed the party in the most spectacular way possible. Her zombie-like exhaustion didn't matter, the sweaty palms didn't matter—Cooper had broken the ice, and somehow, watching him shake water all over Jake's perfect abs, she finally felt like she could breathe.

"So," Jake said, handing her Cooper's leash, "you coming in?"

Maya smiled. Maybe she wasn't so dead after all.