The Sphinx in Zombie Mode

Monday morning hit me like a freight train. I'd stayed up until 3 AM scrolling through Maya's Instagram — again — and now I was functioning on pure zombie power. My eyes felt like they'd been rubbed with sandpaper, my brain was swimming in fog, and I was pretty sure I was walking into walls between classes.

"You look dead, bro," Marcus said, slamming his locker next to mine. "Rough night?"

"Rough life," I muttered, which was honestly truer than he knew.

Then I saw her. Maya.

She stood by her locker like she was carved from starlight, this impossible creature who moved through Northwood High like she was floating. Her dark curls tumbled everywhere, and those eyes — seriously, it should be illegal to have eyes that intense. She was like a living sphinx, all mystery and secrets, with riddle-questions that made my brain short-circuit every time she talked to me.

"Hey, Leo," she said, and my stomach did this embarrassing little flip thing. "You okay? You look... tired."

"Yeah, just — zombie mode, you know?" I managed, running a hand through my definitely-messy hair. "Late night gaming."

Liar. I'd been staring at her profile picture, wondering what it would be like to actually talk to her about something real.

"Cool," she said, and I could feel the conversation dying. "Hey, are you going to Mr. Harrison's nutrition talk at lunch? My mom's making me go. Said something about needing more brain food."

"Brain food?"

"Yeah, apparently I'm withering away from lack of antioxidants." Maya rolled her eyes so hard I almost laughed. "She's all about the spinach now. Green smoothies, kale chips, the whole aesthetic."

"That's... actually kind of impressive?"

"It's annoying," she said, but she was smiling now. "Want to suffer through it together? I could use someone to make fun of Harrison's vegetable puns with."

My heart did something that felt like it might explode.

"Yeah," I said, trying to sound casual and probably failing. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Cool," she said again, softer this time. "See you there, Leo."

As she walked away, I realized something important: maybe being a zombie wasn't so bad if it meant noticing the sphinx-sized mysteries right in front of me. And maybe — just maybe — I'd finally figure out how to solve the riddle of being brave enough to actually exist around her.

Even if it meant eating spinach.