The Zombie Battery

6:45 AM hit like a baseball bat to the face. Maya dragged herself out of bed, feeling like a total **zombie** — pale, groggy, and seriously questioning the entire concept of zero period chemistry. Her little sister was already vibrating with energy, holding out a neon orange gummy **vitamin** like it was some magic solution.

"Take this! It'll change your life!" Jade chirped, bouncing on her heels.

"I'm good," Maya mumbled, though she pocketed it anyway. Better than nothing.

At school, everything felt wrong. Her best **friend** since seventh grade, Chloe, was sitting with the varsity jacket crew at lunch. They were all laughing at something on someone's phone, heads tilted together like some exclusive club. Maya stood there holding her tray, suddenly hyper-aware of her old sweatshirt and the way she'd forgotten to brush her hair that morning because honestly, who had time for that when you were operating on four hours of sleep?

She nearly turned around, but then — miracle of miracles — Chloe looked up and actually smiled. Not her fake polite smile either. The real one.

"Maya! Finally, come sit, we saved you a spot," Chloe called, gesturing to the empty chair beside her. "You missed it, Tyler accidentally threw his sandwich into the trash instead of his mouth during the **baseball** game recap. It was iconic."

The whole table laughed, and something in Maya's chest unlocked. She wasn't invisible. She wasn't floating outside her own life anymore.

"Sorry I'm zombie mode today," Maya said, dropping into the chair. "I think my brain's still asleep."

"Honestly same," said Tyler, offering her a bag of chips. "You want my extra Gatorade? It's basically a vitamin at this point."

Maya laughed — really laughed — and felt the fog lift. High school wasn't perfect. She was tired, stressed, and constantly confused about who she was supposed to be. but maybe that was okay. You didn't have to have it all figured out. You just had to show up.

Even as a zombie.