The Zombie in Center Field

Maya's hair was a disaster. She'd spent two hours trying to perfect that messy-but-cute look all the TikTok girls had, but somehow she just looked messy. Like, actual mess. Not the aesthetic kind.

"You look like a zombie that got hit by a truck," said Leo, leaning against her locker with zero chill.

Maya flipped him off. "Thanks, Leo. Really helpful."

"Anytime, cuz." He adjusted his baseball cap backwards — the signature move of every guy who thought he was the main character. "But seriously, you coming to the game Friday? Coach is finally letting me pitch."

She'd been avoiding the baseball games all season. Not because she didn't like baseball (she didn't, but that wasn't the point), but because Leo's teammates were the kind of guys who made Maya want to crawl into a hole and die.

But something about Friday felt different. Maybe it was the zombie makeup tutorial she'd been practicing all week. Maybe it was the way Leo kept looking at her in homeroom like he was waiting for something.

"Sure," she heard herself saying. "Why not."

The game was a disaster. Her hair had frizzed up from the humidity, she'd spilled mustard down her favorite shirt, and Leo was getting crushed on the mound. But then — everything changed.

Leo struck out their rival's best player. The crowd went absolutely feral. And in that moment, watching him grin like an idiot while his teammates dogpiled him, Maya realized something.

She grabbed the container of spinach salad from her bag (her mom's idea, she swore) and dumped the whole thing over her head.

"What the hell —" someone started.

Maya smiled through the leaves falling into her eyes. "Zombie transformation, duh. It's a metaphor."

Leo stared at her from the pitcher's mound. Then he started laughing.

She took off running toward him, spinach in her hair, zombie makeup smeared across her face, feeling more like herself than she had in months. Sometimes you had to destroy everything to find something real.

Leo's teammates never let either of them live it down. But that was fine. Maya had decided she kind of liked being weird. Weird was better than being someone else's version of normal.

Besides, zombies had more fun.