Life After Third Period

By third period AP Chem, I was basically a **zombie**. No joke—I'd spent all night doomscrolling and now my brain felt like it was running on 2% battery. My eyelids kept doing that fluttery thing where you can't control them, and I'm pretty sure I drooled on my textbook a little.

"You look rough," Maya whispered, sliding me a green smoothie. "Drink this. It's got **spinach**, banana, and some other stuff that won't kill you."

I eyed it suspiciously. "Since when do you do health?"

"Since Tyler posted that he's into girls who 'take care of themselves.'" She raised her eyebrows dramatically. "And I'm assuming you want to survive lunch without passing out?"

Fair point. Tyler Chen had finally noticed my existence three days ago, and now I was spiraling. Was I supposed to be someone who drank green sludge? Someone who carried a **vitamin** organizer like my mom?

The smoothie wasn't terrible. Actually, it made me feel slightly human. By lunch, I was sitting across from Tyler, feeling weirdly nervous.

"So," he said, "I heard you're getting into health stuff."

I panicked. Was Maya talking about me? "Uh, yeah? Big lifestyle changes. Very wellness-focused."

"That's actually really cool," Tyler said. "I've been trying to get my friends to eat better. They think being a 'meathead' means literally only meat."

I nodded solemnly, hiding the fact that my idea of "healthy" was choosing Diet Mountain Dew instead of regular.

Then my stomach made a sound like a dying whale. Loud.

Tyler burst out laughing. "Okay, that's the most relatable thing ever."

"Mortifying," I muttered.

"Nah, it's awesome." He smiled. "Wanna get actual food after school? Something with zero nutritional value?"

And just like that, I wasn't a zombie anymore. Turns out, I didn't need to reinvent myself. I just needed to survive third period long enough for someone to like me at my absolute worst.