The Midnight Algebra Zombie

I was basically a zombie at 7 AM, running on two hours of sleep and three energy drinks. The AP History presentation was due first period, and my brain felt like it had been replaced with cotton balls.

"You look like death," Maya said as I sprinted to catch up with her at the corner. "Rough night?"

"You know those pyramids we were supposed to build for the Egypt project?" I panted. "Mine collapsed at midnight. Literally. Hot glue catastrophe."

Maya laughed. "At least you're not presenting today. I heard Mr. Henderson is going full sphinx on everyone—riddles before he'll accept your work."

I groaned. "I can barely remember my own name, let alone solve riddles."

Then I saw him. Tyler. Leaning against his locker like he owned the hallway, talking to Sarah with that easy smile that made my stomach do backflips. I'd been crushing on him since seventh grade, and I still hadn't managed to form a complete sentence in his presence.

"Hey, Zombie Girl," Tyler called as I hurried past. "Nice job on the history project yesterday. That pyramid was sick."

I froze. He noticed? He actually noticed something I did?

"Thanks," I squeaked. My face burned. This was it. The moment I'd been bear-ing—wait, no, bearing—all year. I was going to say something smooth, something normal, something that didn't make me sound like a total weirdo.

"Your presentation was really cool too," I managed. "The sphinx facts were actually interesting. Which is saying something, because history's usually my worst subject."

Why did I say that? Why did I just tell the boy I've been crushing on for two years that I'm bad at school?

Tyler grinned. "Same here, honestly. Hey, some of us are running to the coffee shop after school. You should come."

I nodded, probably too enthusiastically. "Yeah. Totally. I'll be there."

Maya grabbed my arm as soon as Tyler turned away. "Did that just happen?"

"I think I just got invited to hang out with Tyler," I whispered. "And I didn't even trip over my own feet."

Maybe being a zombie wasn't so bad after all. Sometimes it took running on empty to find exactly what you needed.