Papaya Sunset at Zombie Beach

Maya's vintage dad **hat** sat crooked on her head, shielding her eyes from the brutal Florida sun. The Caribbean festival was supposed to be their thing — her and Ellie's annual tradition since seventh grade. But Ellie stood twenty feet away, phone practically glued to her **palm**, scrolling through TikTok like her life depended on it.

"You gonna eat that?" Maya asked, gesturing to Ellie's untouched **papaya** slice from the fruit stand.

Ellie shrugged, eyes still glued to her screen. "Not hungry. This video is literal gold, Maya. You gotta see it."

Maya sighed. Ever since Ellie started hanging with the popular crowd, she'd been acting like a total **zombie** — same dead-eyed stare, same canned responses, same obsession with trends that'd be dead by next week. The Ellie who once spent three hours helping Maya plan an epic revenge prank on her cheating ex was gone, replaced by this walking, scrolling Instagram filter.

"Remember when we made that pact?" Maya said, voice barely above the music's bass thrum. "No phones at the festival. Just us, being weirdos together."

Ellie finally looked up, confusion flickering across her face. "That was, like, two years ago. Things change, Maya. We're not kids anymore."

The words hit harder than Maya expected. Ellie wasn't wrong — they weren't kids. They were seventeen now, and everything was different: college applications looming, friend groups shifting, identities still forming like Polaroids in a darkroom.

"Yeah," Maya said, forcing a smile. "They do."

But then Ellie's phone buzzed. She glanced at it, then back at Maya, and something shifted in her expression. A flicker of recognition. The old Ellie.

"You know what?" Ellie pocketed her phone. "Show me that revenge prank plan again. I've been dying to use it on Tyler since he ghosted me last week."

Maya's grin was genuine this time. Some traditions were worth keeping alive — even if everything else felt like it was turning into a zombie apocalypse.

"Pass me that papaya first," Maya said. "We've got work to do."