The Zombie Protocol

Marcus shuffled through the hallway like a straight-up zombie, barely functioning after staying up until 3 AM scrolling through his feed. His eyes burned, his brain felt like mush, and the Friday before spring break couldn't come fast enough.

"Dude, you look straight-up undead," said Jamal, falling into step beside him at his locker. "What happened to 'early night, focused morning'?"

"Hailey kept posting," Marcus groaned, tapping his locker combo with shaky fingers. "Every time I was about to sleep, another notification. It's like she's playing some weird game."

Jamal raised an eyebrow. "She knows you're lurking. That's the point."

The morning crawled through Marcus's favorite classes, which he normally crushed, but today he was floating somewhere above his body. In chemistry, he kept staring at the periodic table like it was written in ancient Greek. In English, he caught himself absently reaching for his pocket every five minutes.

Then disaster struck. His iPhone died during lunch—0%, black screen, total darkness. Marcus panicked. His charging cable was at home, forgotten on his nightstand in his exhaustion.

"Bro, you good?" asked Sophia, sliding into the seat across from him. She was wearing this bright orange hoodie that matched her nails, and Marcus felt his stomach do that thing it always did when she got too close.

"Phone's dead," he mumbled, staring at the blank screen. "And my cable's at home."

"Tragic," she deadpanned, but her eyes crinkled with amusement. "However will you survive?"

Marcus started to make a sarcastic comeback, but then he really looked at her. Noticed how her eyes caught the cafeteria light. Noticed she was actually waiting for his answer, not glancing at a screen like everyone else.

"Honestly?" Marcus said, surprising himself. "It kind of sucks. But also... I don't hate it."

Sophia's smile shifted. "Wanna walk to the bodega? I need a snack, and you clearly need coffee before you collapse."

They spent the rest of the lunch period talking—really talking—about everything from Hailey's weird social media game to their mutual fear of the upcoming history project. Marcus found himself laughing so hard his sides hurt, completely forgetting about his dead phone and the zombie-like state he'd been in.

"Hey," Sophia said as the bell rang, "same table tomorrow? Unless you plan on bringing your cable."

Marcus grinned, feeling strangely lighter. "Nah. Think I'll leave it dead. Zombie me is officially retiring."