Market Night

I felt like a zombie when Jordan dragged me to Lisa's party. It was October of freshman year, and I'd successfully avoided high school social events for six weeks straight.

"You're going," Jordan said, adjusting my fedora. "And you're wearing the hat."

The hat was part of my half-baked costume - some kind of fedora-sphinx hybrid thing I'd thrown together because Jordan said "costumes required" and I had exactly forty minutes to prepare.

When we walked in, the bass hit me like a physical force. The living room was packed. Someone had drawn a crude bull on the bathroom door in neon pink marker. A sophomore I recognized from algebra was already throwing up in the backyard.

"This was a mistake," I muttered.

"Just give it twenty minutes," Jordan said, disappearing into the crowd.

I stood by the snack table, clutching a Solo cup of nothing, feeling incredibly small. That's when I saw her - Riley, the junior who'd been student council president two years running. She was wearing a bear headband and a shirt that said "BEAR MARKET" in sharpie.

She caught me staring. "Like what you see?"

"What? No - I mean, yes, but -" I stammered. "Nice bear... thing?"

She laughed, and it was surprisingly genuine. "Tyler's the bull," she nodded toward a guy in the center of the room, wearing a construction paper bull mask. "We're doing an econ joke. Nobody's getting it."

"I get it," I said. "Supply and demand, right?"

"Exactly." She stepped closer. "What's your deal?"

I gestured to my hat. "I'm the sphinx. You know, riddles and mystery?"

"Okay, sphinx," she said. "Here's your riddle: What's the difference between a zombie and a person who's never been to a party?"

"I don't know."

"The zombie has more of a life." She grinned. "I'm kidding. You're doing fine."

Something in my chest loosened. "You're surprisingly nice for someone who wears a power blazer to school."

"And you're surprisingly funny for someone wearing a fedora to a house party." She bumped my shoulder. "Come meet people. I promise nobody will bite - unless you're Tyler, then you might get the horns."

I followed her into the crowd, and for the first time all night, I didn't feel like hiding. The zombie feeling faded. I was just a person at a party, wearing a ridiculous hat, talking to a bear and a bull, and somehow, that was exactly where I was supposed to be.