The Zombie Hat Incident

Maya smoothed her frizzy **hair** for the hundredth time, staring at her reflection. Homecoming was in two days and she still didn't have a date—or a clue who she was trying to be.

"You ready?" her best friend Chen called from downstairs.

Maya grabbed her dad's old fedora **hat** on impulse. Maybe a mysterious vibe would work. Maybe anything would.

The party was already **running** at full volume when they arrived. Chen vanished immediately (suspiciously convenient), leaving Maya alone near the snack table. Great.

That's when she saw Tyler—her Tyler, the one who'd barely acknowledged her existence since sixth grade—dressed as a **zombie** with impressively committed gray face paint and fake blood dripping down his chin.

"Nice hat," he said, actually looking at her for the first time in forever.

"Thanks," Maya managed, trying to sound chill instead of like her heart was doing cartwheels. "Nice... undead vibes."

They talked for twenty minutes. TWENTY. About nothing and everything—how Mr. Harrison gave impossible pop quizzes, whether cats were plotting world domination, why Taylor Swift's lyrics spoke directly to their souls.

And then, like the universe had been waiting for maximum humiliation potential, **lightning** cracked across the sky outside. The power flickered. Once. Twice.

Complete darkness.

Maya felt herself being pulled—by Tyler—toward what she thought was an empty room away from the chaos. She tripped over something (a chair? a person? her own dignity?). The **hat** flew off her head.

"Sorry!" she whispered frantically, patting around in the dark.

Tyler laughed, this genuinely amused sound. "Maya, it's cool—"

"No, I literally can't find my **hair**, I can't find anything—"

"Your hair's on your head, I promise." His hand brushed hers, sending actual sparks through her whole body. "Also, you just basically confessed you're having a bad **hair** day to the guy you've been secretly crushing on for three years."

Maya froze.

The lights clicked back on.

Tyler was smiling crookedly, gray face paint smudged on his cheek, holding her dad's fedora. "So... homecoming? Maybe? As actual humans, not **zombie** extra?"

Maya's face burned. "Yeah. As humans."

"Cool." He held out the hat. "This looked better on you anyway."

Outside, actual **lightning** split the sky again, but this time Maya didn't mind. Sometimes the universe knew exactly when to interrupt.