Orange Hair, Zombie Life

Friday night and I was lying on my bedroom floor, feeling like a straight-up zombie. Junior year was killing me—AP Chem, track practice, college applications, the constant pressure to be more. More social. More impressive. More everything.

My phone buzzed. Marcus, my best friend since seventh grade, though we'd been drifting lately. He was all varsity jackets and house parties now. I was just tired.

"u coming to jess's party?"

"can't. studying."

"LAME. jess literally asked about u"

My chest tightened. Jess Parker—English class, oversized hoodies, poetry in the margins. The girl I'd been lowkey crushing on since October.

I went to the bathroom and stared at my reflection. Brown hair, permanently exhausted eyes, absolutely nothing special. Then I opened the cabinet and grabbed the orange hair dye I'd bought three weeks ago and been too scared to use.

Forty minutes later, I looked like a stranger. Bright orange hair. Not subtle orange. More like "I spontaneously combusted in a Fanta factory" orange.

My mom knocked. "Everything okay?"

"Fine!" I called back, voice cracking.

Then I was grabbing my jacket and heading to Jess's party, because suddenly I needed to see if orange hair could make me feel something other than exhausted.

Marcus spotted me first. His jaw dropped. "DUDE. Your HAIR."

"Yeah. Went for a new vibe."

He stared, then grinned. "Okay, that's actually kind of sick."

"Hey! You came!" Jess appeared behind him, wearing a cropped band tee and slightly smudged eyeliner. "Oh my god, I love your hair! When did you do that?"

"Like, an hour ago? Impulse decision?"

"It's amazing," she said firmly. "You look like a completely different person. A very good way."

She was actually looking at me.

"Wanna come look at this playlist I'm making?" Jess asked. "Marcus showed me your Spotify, and your taste is actually superior."

"Shh, you had your chance," she waved at Marcus's fake outrage. Then she turned back to me. "Coming? Unless you're gonna keep being mysterious in the doorway all night."

The zombie feeling evaporated. I wasn't tired anymore.

"Yeah," I said, following her inside. "I'm coming."

My hair was orange, my weekend was about to be chaotic, and for the first time in months, I was actually awake.