Sunday Night Feels

Maya's iPhone buzzed for the third time in five minutes. She ignored it, face buried in her calculus textbook. The notifications kept coming though—snap after snap, everyone posting about the party she wasn't at.

"You look like a zombie," said Leo, flopping onto her bed. He'd shown up unannounced again, smelling like chlorine and exhaustion from padel practice. His hair was still damp from the shower.

Maya groaned. "I feel like one. This test is going to kill me."

"That's because you don't sleep. Or eat actual food." Leo held up a neon-orange bottle. "I brought you those vitamin gummies. The ones with iron? Since you're basically a corpse?"

"You're literally the worst friend ever."

"And yet, here I am. Bringing you supplements and moral support." Leo grinned, throwing a gummy at her face. She caught it without looking. "Also, someone Snapchatted me from the party. Jessica was asking about you."

Maya's stomach did that thing it always did when Jessica's name came up. "What did she say?"

"Something like 'why wasn't Maya there?'" Leo's tone made it clear there was more. "Also, Tyler was being weird about you again."

Maya finally looked up from her textbook. "Weird how?"

"Weird like, he kept checking his phone every five seconds and asking if you'd posted anything." Leo raised his eyebrows significantly. "I'm just saying. The boy is obsessed."

"He's not obsessed. We're lab partners. That's it."

"Mhm. Sure." Leo rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. "You know what your problem is? You're so focused on being perfect that you don't notice when people actually like you. Not perfect you. Just you."

Maya thought about Sunday nights like this—Leo sprawled on her bed, the half-empty vitamin gummy bottle, the test anxiety that felt less important somehow. Maybe Leo was right. Maybe she didn't have to be a zombie walking through high school. Maybe she could just be Maya, imperfect and tired and occasionally taking vitamin gummies brought by her best friend.

"You're still the worst," she said, picking up her phone.

"Love you too," Leo replied, already on his.

Maya opened Snapchat and posted a picture of her calculus homework, captioned: living the dream. Her phone buzzed almost immediately.

From Jessica: You're missing a rager for CALCULUS? We need to talk. From Tyler: Good luck with the test. You got this.

Maya smiled. Maybe being a zombie wasn't so bad if you had people waiting for you to wake up.