Dead Tired & Wired

Maya felt like a zombie. Not the cool, Netflix kind with perfect winged eyeliner and strategic survival plans, but the actual dead-inside variety that comes from four hours of sleep and three AP classes. She dragged herself through the hallway, clutching her iPhone 13 like it was the last oxygen tank on earth. Her thumb automatically opened Instagram, doom-scrolling through everyone's highlight reels while dodging actual humans.

"Watch it, zombie," Jake laughed, side-stepping her collision course with a water fountain. "You look like you're auditioning for The Walking Dead."

Maya flipped him off without breaking stride. At least her eyeliner was still intact. Small victories.

Third period Spanish meant sitting behind Chloe. The girl who'd somehow become Maya's personal spy operation. For three weeks, Maya had been lowkey stalking Chloe's stories — the beach pics, the aesthetic latte art, the way she laughed with her head thrown back like she didn't care who was watching. Maya had practically memorized Chloe's schedule through social media detective work. Which was borderline creepy, even she knew that.

But she couldn't help it. Chloe was everything Maya wasn't: effortless, glowing, actually sleeping.

"Hey." Chloe dropped into the desk in front of her, turning around. "You look super tired. Again."

Maya's brain short-circuited. "Uh, yeah. You know how it is."

"Actually, I don't." Chloe reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle. "My mom started making me take these vitamin D supplements because apparently I never see the sun anymore. But I noticed you're always here before dawn, still here after sunset." She slid the bottle across the desk. "Take one. I have like, backup bottles at home."

Maya stared at her. The spy operation had somehow reversed itself. "You've noticed me?"

Chloe laughed, and it sounded exactly like her Instagram stories made it sound — real and unselfconscious. "We've been in the same Spanish class for two years, Maya. You're the one who's always drawing in that notebook. Your stuff is actually fire."

Maya felt something shift inside her tired chest. The zombie feeling receded, just a little.

"Thanks," she said, pocketing the vitamin bottle. "For, like, noticing."

"No problem." Chloe tapped her phone. "Also, you should post your art. I've been wanting to spy on your sketchbook for ages now."

Maya's phone buzzed in her hand. A new follower request. Maybe she wasn't so dead inside after all.