Dead Friends and Palm Readings

Maya's vintage trucker **hat** sat crooked on her head, her emotional support headwear since seventh grade when she decided it would be her personality. Now a junior, she still felt like she was performing being cool instead of actually being it.

"You're not gonna talk to him, are you?" Kai asked, already knowing the answer. Kai had been her **friend** since kindergarten, the kind who knew everything about you except the things you couldn't say out loud.

Maya wiped her sweating **palm**s on her ripped jeans. "I'm just gonna—I don't know. Compliment his shirt?"

"His shirt that says 'RUN FOR YOUR LIVES' in fake blood?" Kai raised an eyebrow. "Real creative, Maya."

Liam sat by himself at lunch, always, reading books with torn pages and drawing creatures that looked like they'd crawled out of nightmares. Maya had been lowkey obsessed with him since September, when he'd given a presentation on why 28 Days Later was better than every other **zombie** movie ever made and she'd wanted to high-five him but instead just stared at her desk.

Her childhood **dog**, Buster, had better game than her. He'd just trot up to other dogs at the park, sniff some butt, and boom—friends. Why did humans have to make everything so complicated?

"Or," Kai said, "you could keep not talking to him and live in your head forever, rent-free."

Maya took a breath and walked over. Liam looked up, and for a second she forgot English. But then she saw his sketchbook—zombie mermaids. Zombie mermaids!

"That's objectively the best thing I've ever seen," she said.

His face lit up. "You think? I was going for—"

"Aquatic apocalypse vibes? Definitely achieved."

They talked through the entire lunch period. About zombie cinema, about how their schools felt like prisons, about how sometimes they both felt like the walking dead just going through the motions.

Later, Kai fist-bumped her. "Finally. My work here is done."

Maya adjusted her hat, smiling so hard her face hurt. Being cool wasn't about performing anything. It was about finding the other zombies and realizing you weren't alone.