The Courtship of the Undead

Maya's fingers flew across her iphone screen, doom-scrolling through yet another video of people doing the Zombie Dance trend. She was supposed to be warming up for her padel match against St. Jude's Academy, but honestly? The neon-lit indoor court felt miles away from the social media vortex she'd been lost in since 3 AM.

"You good?" Chloe asked, bouncing a neon yellow ball off her racket. "You look like a literal zombie right now."

Maya dragged her eyes from her phone. "Funny you say that." She nodded toward the far end of the court where the St. Jude's team was gathered. In the middle stood Ethan—the same Ethan who'd sat behind her in bio last year, the same Ethan whose smile made her stomach do that annoying fluttery thing—wearing what appeared to be full zombie makeup. Green face paint. Fake blood drip. The works.

"No way," Chloe breathed. "Is this some kind of psychological warfare thing? Like, they're trying to throw us off by being extra?"

Ethan caught Maya staring. He waved, sending a spray of glittery green powder into the air. His phone—the newest iphone model, the one Maya's parents said was "extravagant"—was mounted on a tripod behind the baseline. He was livestreaming something.

"Oh my god," Maya whispered. "He's doing content. He's not just playing padel. He's making a THING about it."

The whistle blew. Ethan abandoned his setup and stepped onto the court, still in full zombie cosplay. The referee sighed like he dealt with this every day. As the match began, Maya realized something: Ethan moved differently than she expected. Not like a zombie at all—fluid, confident, every swing calculated. And every time he scored, he'd glance at his phone's comment section, grinning.

Between sets, Maya found herself standing near him while they both grabbed water. His phone, still propped on the tripod, was blowing up with notifications.

"Nice content," she said, immediately cringing at how awkward she sounded.

Ethan laughed, wiping green face paint onto his wrist. "Honestly? It started as a bet with my cousin. But then I realized something." He leaned closer. "If you embrace the weird stuff, people think you're confident. If you try to hide it? That's when it gets awkward."

Maya looked at her phone, dark screen reflecting her tired face. All those hours she spent trying to seem normal, trying to curate some perfect version of herself online. Meanwhile, zombie-Ethan here was just... living.

"Hey," Ethan said. "We should rally sometime. Without the makeup, I mean. Unless that's your thing."

Maya smiled—actually smiled, not the fake one she used in Instagram stories. "I think I can work with the normal version."

Her phone buzzed in her hand. A notification from her zombie dance video: "Ethan_C Hernandez liked your post." Maya slipped the phone into her bag without checking the screen. Some things were better experienced in real-time anyway.