Screen Dead, Heart Alive

Maya's thumbs hovered over her **iPhone**, doom-scrolling through Instagram as she leaned against the gym wall. The Halloween dance thumped behind her, bass vibrating through the floorboards. She'd spent three hours on her zombie makeup—ghostly pale foundation, dark circles, fake blood dripping from her lip—but now that she was actually here, she felt more like an actual undead person than a costume.

Across the room, Jake stood in his orange hoodie, laughing with his friends. No costume. Just Jake being Jake, confident without trying. Maya had been crushing on him since bio class, where he'd sat behind her and made terrible puns about cells that somehow made her laugh.

"Hey, zombie girl." Her best friend Chloe appeared, adjusting her cat ears. "You gonna stand here all night or actually talk to people?"

"I'm socially distancing," Maya muttered, though the joke fell flat. "From everyone. Forever."

Just then, the gym doors burst open. A **dog**—a golden retriever wearing a tiny pirate costume—trotted in like he owned the place. The music cut. Everyone froze.

"That's Bandit!" someone yelled.

"He belongs to Mr. Henderson!"

The dog made a beeline for Maya, tail wagging like crazy. She dropped to her knees, zombie makeup forgotten, and let him slobber all her carefully applied fake blood right off.

"Bandit!" Jake ran over, breathless. "Sorry, he—" He stopped, grinning. "Nice zombie look."

"Thanks," Maya said, her face flushing under the pale makeup. "Nice... non-costume."

"I'm going for subtle mystery," Jake deadpanned, but his eyes crinkled. "Hey, you want help getting Bandit back to Mr. Henderson's? My mom's giving me and Chloe a ride to the afterparty. You can come too. If you want."

Maya looked at her **iPhone**, still glowing with untouched notifications. Then at Jake, smiling at her like she wasn't invisible. At Chloe, mouthing "SAY YES" behind Jake's back. At Bandit, who was currently chewing on her zombie wrist cuff.

"Yeah," she said, something loosening in her chest. "I'd like that."

Her thumbs didn't reach for her phone again the rest of the night.