The Night I Didn't Die (Twice)

I felt like a **zombie** crawling through third period algebra—thank you, TikTok binge at 2 AM. My bestie Maya slid into the seat beside me, dropping a handful of gummy **vitamin** C supplements on my desk like they were contraband.

"You look wrecked," she whispered, popping one herself. "Friday night's rager is going to literally end you."

"I'm not even going," I muttered, though I'd already picked my outfit three times.

The truth? I was panicked about Tyler. THE Tyler. The one whose messy brown **hair** fell over his eyes when he laughed, making my stomach do actual gymnastics. We'd been texting for weeks, but tonight was our first official IRL hang. In public. At a party.

Maya's older sister had this ancient Egyptian statue in her room—a **sphinx** with missing ears and chipped gold paint. Maya called it "The Relationship Advice Oracle." You were supposed to stare into its stone eyes and think about your crush, and apparently, it would reveal the truth. Stupid, right?

But that night, I stood in Maya's bedroom staring at that crumbling sphinx while she straightened my hair for the third time. "What if he thinks I'm basic? What if he finds out I still watch Disney Channel?"

"Chill," Maya said, "you're overthinking. Just be... you. The weirdo who quote-tweets NASA memes."

At the party, Tyler showed up wearing the same Thrasher hoodie as me—awkward or fate? We spent three hours on the porch talking about everything from parallel universes to why schools don't teach taxes. He made me laugh so hard soda came out my nose.

"You're actually insane," he said, grinning.

"Insane good or insane you're-creeping-me-out?"

"Insane like... I want to hang out again."

I walked home at 2 AM feeling electric, no longer zombie-like at all. Some nights change you. This one just reminded me that the terrifying things—first dates, being seen, risking rejection—are actually the ones that make you feel most alive.