Dead Inside, Green Outside

Maya felt like a literal **zombie** at Jason's party. Not the cool, dramatic kind from TV—more like the awkward, shuffling variety who didn't know where to put her hands. She'd been standing near the snack table for twenty minutes, clutching her **iPhone** like it was a life raft, scrolling through absolutely nothing just to look busy.

Across the room, someone was already wearing that same **bear** costume from Halloween—the fuzzy brown one that looked ridiculous but somehow everyone thought was hilarious. Maya had worn it to school that day, back when she still thought doing everything for the vine-worthy moment was worth it. Now she just felt... done.

"Hey," said a voice beside her. Maya jumped and nearly dropped her phone. It was that guy from her English class, the one who always sat in the back and drew in his notebook. What was his name? Liam? Lucas?

"You got a little..." He gestured to his own smile, then hers. "Right there."

Maya's heart plummeted. She'd had that smoothie with extra **spinach** earlier—her mom's latest attempt to get them eating "real food"—and apparently, it had been chilling in her teeth the entire time she'd been standing here trying to look mysterious and aloof.

"Oh my GOD," she whispered, covering her mouth. "How long?"

"Since you got here," he said, grinning. "I was gonna tell you, but you seemed so deep in thought. Very philosophical zombie vibes."

She groaned, but then something happened—she started laughing. Not the fake polite laugh she used at school, but actual laughing until her sides hurt. He laughed too, and suddenly the party didn't feel so terrifying anymore.

"I'm Leo, by the way," he said. "And I'm pretty sure that bear costume is stolen property."

"Maya," she said. "And yeah, my friend Chloe took it from her little brother. I'm never living this down."

"Nah," Leo said. "The spinach thing? Honestly, it's the most real thing that's happened all night. Everyone else is just curating their aesthetic like their lives depend on it. You're just... out here."

Maya looked around the room—everyone posed, everyone performing—and then back at Leo, who still had that genuine smile. Maybe feeling like a zombie wasn't about being dead inside. Maybe it was just about waiting for someone to help you wake up.