The Friend Request

Maya's eyes burned like someone had poured hot sauce directly onto her retinas. Three AM again. She was running on caffeine and spite, basically a certified zombie at this point. Her Discord pinged.

ZOMBIE_SLAYER: u up?

Maya smiled despite herself. Lucas, her best friend since kindergarten, the only person who understood that 3 AM gaming was sacred time. They'd been grinding the new zombie survival mode for weeks.

Yeah, she typed. My parents finally cut the cable. Emergency Wi-Fi only.

Her dad had dropped the bomb at dinner: "We're streaming now. No more cable, it's 2024." Which translated to: terrible internet, endless buffering, and Maya losing her mind.

lol rip, Lucas replied. wanna queue?

But something felt off. Lucas's messages had been shorter lately. More distant. Maya stared at their old profile pictures together — Halloween costumes, birthday parties, both of them awkward and brace-faced and inseparable. Now? Lucas was on the varsity team, hanging with the popular crowd. Maya was still... Maya.

She thought back to lunch yesterday. She'd waved at Lucas across the cafeteria. He'd hesitated, then given a half-smile and turned back to his new friends. The moment had stung worse than when she'd failed her driver's test.

Game invites loaded. The match started.

They played in silence for twenty minutes. The irony wasn't lost on her — in a game about surviving together against zombies, they could barely talk to each other.

Are we good? Maya typed, then backspaced. Too desperate.

Instead: this new map sucks lol

yea, Lucas replied.

Another five minutes passed. The game ended. They won, but it felt hollow.

Then: hey can I ask u something

Maya's heart did that stupid thing it always did. Yeah?

Sarah from chem is having a party friday. u wanna come with?

Maya read it three times. He hadn't ditched her. He was inviting her in.

Only if there's food. I'm literally a zombie right now.

lmao deal. get some sleep

nighhhht

Maya closed her laptop, the room dark except for her screen's glow. Maybe things were changing. But maybe that wasn't bad. Maybe they were just... leveling up.