Papaya Palm Protocol

Maya moved through the cafeteria like a **zombie**—three hours of sleep, two AP exams, and one existential crisis will do that to you. Her best friend Chloe grabbed her arm, practically vibrating with excitement.

"You have to come to Jake's party tonight. His cousin just got back from Costa Rica and brought actual **papaya**. I've never even seen one in real life."

Maya's **palm**s started sweating at the mention of Jake's party. She'd been crushing on him since Bio, but every time she tried to talk to him, her brain short-circuited. The last time, she'd accidentally compared mitochondria to Pokémon.

"I don't know... I still have to study for—"

"Nope. You're coming. That's final. Besides, you need this. Your **vitamin** D levels are probably nonexistent from living in the library."

That evening, Maya stood in Jake's backyard, clutching a red plastic cup while palm trees strung with fairy lights swayed above her. The air smelled like coconut sunscreen and something sweet.

"Hey."

She jumped. Jake stood there, holding something that looked like a weird oversized melon.

"This is papaya," he said, cutting it open. "Want to try? It's actually amazing."

Maya stared at the bright **orange** flesh. "I've never had—"

"First time for everything." His eyes crinkled when he smiled. "It's like if a mango and a peach had a baby."

She took a bite. Sweet, tropical, completely unlike anything she'd ever tasted.

"So..." Jake leaned against the palm tree trunk. "Chloe told me you're a zombie expert. Walking Dead or the funny kind?"

Maya laughed. "The academic kind. I've gotten four hours of sleep since Monday."

"Welcome to the club." He raised his cup. "To papayas and surviving junior year."

They talked for two hours about everything and nothing—about how Mr. Henderson gave pop quizzes like they were going out of style, about the weird health phase Jake's mom was going through with her green smoothies, about how neither of them knew what they wanted to be when they grew up.

And maybe it was the papaya, or the fairy lights, or just finally being seen instead of just being the quiet girl in AP Bio, but Maya didn't feel like a zombie anymore. She felt like someone who maybe, just maybe, was starting to figure out who she actually was.