The Zombie Protocol

Maya stood in the corner of Jenny's basement, her phone clutched like a lifeline. The charger cable dangling from the outlet behind her was the only thing tethering her to reality. Everyone else moved in that weird synchronized way—the zombie protocol, she called it. That trance-like state where nobody actually talked but everyone was hyper-connected to their screens.

"You look like you're about to glitch out," someone said.

Maya looked up. It was Leo, that guy from her AP Bio class who always sat in the back and drew in his notebook. He was wearing this ridiculous orange hoodie that somehow worked.

"Just buffering," she muttered, then immediately winced. Why did she say that?

Leo laughed though. "Big mood. This whole party is lagging."

He leaned against the wall next to her, and Maya felt something shift. The air between them crackled, different from the shallow energy of the party.

"My charger cable's about to die," she said. "Literally and metaphorically."

"Cap," he grinned. "You're not gonna die. But yeah, social battery running on fumes is real."

They talked for twenty minutes about everything and nothing—about how high school felt like one long performance piece, about how they both missed when friendship wasn't curated for an audience. Leo told her he drew comics about people escaping the zombie protocol. Maya admitted she wrote poetry but never showed anyone.

When Jenny's mom called down that the pizza was here (finally, actual food), the spell broke. The zombie horde shuffled toward the stairs, screens still illuminating their faces like digital ghosts.

"Hey," Leo said, pulling a slightly crumpled orange from his pocket. "For the road. It's not pizza, but..."

Maya took it, their fingers brushing. The citrus scent cut through everything.

"Thanks."

"Text me?" He held up his phone. "Actually, never mind. Let's not be zombies about it. Tomorrow at lunch? Actual face-to-face convo?"

"Tomorrow at lunch," she agreed, watching him walk away, the orange bright against the dim basement lighting, her phone still at 12% battery and somehow that didn't matter at all.