The Undead in the Corner

Maya stood in the corner of Tyler's basement, clutching her iPhone like it was the last oxygen tank on Earth. The beanie she'd spent twenty minutes positioning to look 'effortlessly messy' suddenly felt ridiculous. Everyone else moved with this natural fluidity, while Maya felt like a zombie—stiff, awkward, barely present, watching life happen through a fog of social anxiety.

Her mom had made her promise to actually *try* tonight. 'You're not a hermit, Maya. You're just... selective,' she'd said while pressing a weirdly shaped vitamin into Maya's palm. 'This has B-complex. It'll help with energy. And maybe confidence?' Obviously her mom was reaching.

The vitamin was still in her pocket, a small lump of parental hope that Maya had zero intention of swallowing. Because pills didn't fix the problem of being the new girl who'd transferred mid-semester and somehow missed the window for easy friend-making.

Her phone buzzed. Jenna: 'WHERE R U??? We're doing the TikTok dance and it's lowkey fire without you'

Maya's stomach did that thing where it simultaneously dropped and rose. Jenna had been texting her all week after they'd been paired in bio, and tonight was supposed to be their friend-group initiation. But the second Maya had walked in and seen everyone already in their clusters, something had frozen. She'd defaulted to the corner. Classic.

'Just go over there,' she muttered to herself. 'They literally asked you to be there.'

She adjusted her hat for the fiftieth time. Then stopped. Whatever. Hat hair was better than being alone.

Jenna was near the speakers, laughing with three other girls. When she spotted Maya, she waved—actually *genuinely* waved, like she was happy Maya existed.

'Finally!' Jenna screamed over the bass. 'We saved your spot!'

Maya slid into their circle, heart hammering. 'Sorry, I was—'

'Overthinking it?' Jenna grinned. 'Girl, same. First party I came to, I hid in the bathroom for forty minutes.'

The other girls laughed. 'I stood behind a potted plant,' another admitted.

They did the dance. Maya messed up twice. Nobody cared. By the third attempt, they were all laughing so hard they could barely stand up, and the zombie feeling evaporated, replaced by something warm and unfamiliar.

Belonging.

Later, sitting on the basement couch with her phone battery at 12% and her hat somewhere on the floor, Maya realized the vitamin in her pocket wasn't the answer. Some things couldn't be swallowed.

'Tomorrow?' Jenna asked.

'Yeah,' Maya said. And for the first time in months, she meant it.