Sweaty Palms at the Zombie Bash

Maya's palms were sweating so bad she could barely grip her phone. This was it—her first actual high school party, and she was standing outside Jayden's front door like a total loser, overthinking everything.

"You got this," she whispered to herself, checking her reflection one more time. Her zombie makeup was on point. Greenish foundation, dark circles, fake blood dripping from her lip—she'd spent two hours watching tutorials.

The bass from inside rattled the doorframe. She knocked.

Jayden answered, looking freshly dead in the best way. "Maya! You made it!"

"Yeah, um, love the zombie vibe," she managed, stepping inside. The living room was packed—people she'd known since middle school were suddenly strangers in this new world of high school social dynamics.

She grabbed an orange soda from the kitchen counter, trying to look chill. That's when she saw the cat—a calico with one ear that refused to be moved, sitting on the back of the couch like it owned everything.

"That's Mango," someone said behind her. She turned to see Derek, the cute skater guy she'd been crushing on since September. "My sister's cat. She's pretty chill for a zombie apocalypse."

Maya laughed. "Totally. Very apocalypse-ready."

"Wanna see something weird?" Derek asked.

She nodded, and he led her to the back deck where a single goldfish bowl sat on a table, glowing from the LED light underneath. "My parents won a goldfish at the carnival last summer. We named him Glen because he kept swimming into the glass like he was trying to escape."

Maya watched Glen swim in endless circles. "That's kind of sad, right? Being stuck in a bowl while everyone else is at a party."

"Or maybe he's just vibing," Derek said. "Living his best fish life."

Their pinky fingers brushed against each other on the table edge. Neither moved away.

"Hey," Derek said, his voice softer now. "I'm glad you came."

The moment was perfect until someone inside screamed, "THE CAT JUST KNOCKED OVER THE PUNCH BOWL!"

They ran inside to find Mango sitting atop the refrigerator, looking extremely pleased with herself, while orange fruit punch pooled across the kitchen floor. The zombie apocalypse theme had suddenly become very real.

Derek and Maya locked eyes across the chaos and started laughing.

"This party officially sucks," he said.

"Yeah," Maya agreed, already planning how she'd text her best friend about everything later. "But it kind of doesn't."