The Night I Became a Myth

I was rocking full-on **zombie** mode—dark circles, three Red Bulls deep, functioning on zero sleep after finals week—when Jordan spotted me across the basement party.

"You got something in your teeth," they said, nodding toward my mouth.

I bolted to the bathroom mirror. Sure enough, a tragic chunk of **spinach** from the veggie dip was wedged between my front teeth. I'd been talking to people for THIRTY MINUTES like this. My social life was officially over.

"Fix your face," I whispered to my reflection, "then leave before anyone else sees."

But then Riley—actual junior **fox**,.track star, barely knew I existed—walked in. And instead of sprinting away like a sane person, I froze.

"Hey," Riley said. "You're Maya, right? From AP Chem?"

I nodded, probably looking terrifying. "Yeah. That's me. AP Chem Maya."

"Cool." Riley leaned against the doorframe, all casual confidence. "My mom keeps trying to make me take these **vitamin** D supplements because she read a study about teens being deficient. Which is random, but whatever."

"My parents do that too," I heard myself saying. "They act like vitamins are personality traits."

Riley laughed. An actual laugh. Not polite.

We talked for twenty minutes about teachers, about how school felt pointless, about how we were both secretly obsessed with this obscure indie game. The spinach was gone. The zombie energy faded. I felt... seen?

Then Jordan found me again, grinning like they knew something.

"Everyone's talking about you," they said.

My stomach dropped. "Because of the—"

"No." Jordan's eyes lit up. "Because you're the only person Riley's talked to all night. They're, like, impossible to talk to. Total **sphinx**—mysterious, barely says anything to anyone. But you got them laughing."

"Oh." I blinked. "Really?"

"Really." Jordan squeezed my shoulder. "You're not invisible anymore, Maya. You're literally becoming a myth."

I looked across the room. Riley was already looking back, smiling.

Sometimes the worst moments lead to the best ones. And sometimes, zombie mode and spinach disasters are exactly what you need to finally start living.