The Zombie's Golden Friend

Maya's goldfish, Glub, was no ordinary fish. He shimmered with rainbow scales that changed color when Maya whispered her secrets. But Maya had no one to tell her secrets to—she was new in town, and the kids at school seemed so scary.

Especially Leo. The other kids called him "the zombie" because he always wore his green jacket hood up and walked slowly, head down, staring at his worn sneakers. Maya had never even heard him speak.

One afternoon, Maya practiced padel in her driveway, hitting the ball against the garage wall. She loved the *thwack* of her racket meeting the ball, the way it sailed through the air like a small blue comet.

Suddenly, a voice called out. "Your backhand needs work."

Maya jumped. It was Leo, the zombie boy, standing at her gate. He wasn't scary at all—just quiet.

"Do you play?" Maya asked, holding her racket tight.

Leo stepped closer. "My abuelo taught me before he... before he went to the hospital. He said to never give your vitamin to anyone else."

"Your vitamin?" Maya giggled. "You mean your energy?"

Leo grinned, and suddenly his green hood came down. He wasn't a zombie at all—just a boy with the kindest brown eyes Maya had ever seen. "Yeah. My abuelo said everyone has their own special vitamin inside. You know, that thing that makes you YOU."

That day, Glub's scales turned the brightest gold Maya had ever seen. She and Leo played padel until sunset, missing every shot but laughing harder than Maya had in years.

"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you before," Leo said, sitting on Maya's front steps. "I was saving my vitamin."

Maya looked at Glub swimming in his bowl by the window. "You know what my goldfish says? He says a vitamin that's never shared is like a racket that never swings."

Leo's eyes widened. "Your fish talks?"

"Only on Tuesdays," Maya winked.

From then on, Maya and Leo were inseparable. And sometimes, when they played padel under the streetlights, Maya could have sworn Glub's scales glowed gold—like a tiny flashlight cheering them on.

The zombie boy wasn't a zombie anymore. He was Maya's best friend. And that, Maya knew, was the most powerful vitamin of all.