The Night I Stopped Running

I felt like a **zombie** walking through the hallway, my third consecutive all-nighter catching up with me. Finals week will do that to you. My phone buzzed in my pocket - probably another notification from the group chat I'd been too tired to respond to.

"Hey Marcus!" Ryan called from his locker. "Track tryouts after school. You coming?"

"Yeah," I mumbled. **Running** was the only thing keeping me sane lately. Well, that and Buster, my golden retriever who waited patiently for me every afternoon.

But what I wouldn't say out loud? I'd been basically **spy**-ing on Chloe's Instagram for weeks. Pathetic, I know. But there was something about her - the way she laughed with her friends like she didn't care what anyone thought. Completely opposite of me, overthinking every interaction until my brain felt like static.

Thunder rattled the windows as I walked home that afternoon. The sky turned that weird greenish color before a storm. Buster met me at the door, tail wagging like always, my only reliable friend.

**Lightning** flashed across the sky, illuminating everything in stark white for a split second. That's when I saw Chloe through her window, two houses down. Dancing. Like, full-on, hair-flipping, spins-included dancing, with zero shame. She looked... happy. Completely herself.

My **dog** nudged my hand, like he was telling me to get over myself.

So I did something completely out of character. I walked to her door and knocked.

"Marcus?" She looked surprised, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Everything okay?"

"I, uh, saw you dancing," I admitted. "It looked... fun. Like, actually fun, not performative fun."

She laughed. "You want me to teach you the routine?"

"Honestly? Yes."

We spent the next hour dancing badly in her garage while the storm raged outside. I didn't feel like a zombie anymore. I didn't feel like I was spying on someone else's life from the sidelines. I was just... there. Awkward dance moves and all.

Sometimes you have to stop running from everything and just show up. Even if you look ridiculous doing it.