The Zombie Summer

Maya felt like a walking **zombie** as she dragged herself through another week of summer school. Her parents had insisted she retake chemistry after she'd spent the entire semester scrolling through TikTok instead of studying. Now she was paying the price, zombie-walking through endless periods and wearing hoodies to hide the dark circles under her eyes.

"You need these," her grandma insisted, pressing a handful of supplements into Maya's hand during their weekly visit. "They've got every **vitamin** a growing teenager needs. You're looking peaky, mija."

Maya had rolled her eyes but pocketed the vitamins anyway. Anything to get her grandma off her case about her "unhealthy lifestyle." Like she had time to be healthy when she was basically living at school?

The real nightmare started when their internet went down. Again. The ancient **cable** that connected their apartment building to the outside world had finally given up the ghost, leaving Maya stranded in a prehistoric wasteland with no WiFi, no streaming, and worst of all—no way to text her crush, Jamal.

Three days into the cable apocalypse, Maya found herself actually talking to her grandma instead of doom-scrolling in the corner. They sat on the balcony sharing homemade lemonade, watching the sunset paint the sky pink.

"You know," her grandma said, "sometimes being disconnected isn't so bad. Gives you space to remember who you actually are."

Maya looked at her phone—still dead, still useless. But for the first time all summer, she didn't feel like panicking. She'd survived three days without it. She was still the same person, still had the same friends, still had the same massive crush on Jamal who she'd text eventually.

Maybe this summer wasn't a total waste after all. She swallowed her grandma's vitamins with newfound determination. Tomorrow she'd face chemistry, crush on Jamal from afar, and deal with the cable company. But tonight? Tonight she was just Maya, zombie no more.