Three AM Zombie Mode

"Spinach smoothies are a personality test," Zoe announced, holding her cup like some kind of wellness influencer.

I looked at the murky green sludge in my glass. This was what cool people drank now? My seventeen-year-old survival instincts screamed that this was social suicide.

Then the WiFi died.

Thirty teenagers collectively lost their minds. I couldn't help but feel relieved - at least nobody would notice the spinach wedged between my front teeth like it was paying rent.

"Someone check the cable!" Zoe shouted, abandoning her influencer persona to go full IT panic mode.

I slipped toward the bathroom, feeling like a zombie from last night's three-hour TikTok doomscroll. The mirror confirmed everything: uneven foundation, dead eyes, and yes, that tiny green piece of spinach in my teeth.

I leaned over the sink to fix it, and that's when Mittens chose her moment. My cat somehow got into the bathroom and launched herself onto my shoulder. I flinched, sending my phone crashing into the sink full of water.

"No no no!" I scrambled to grab it, but my lifeline to dignity was gone.

When I finally emerged, Felix was waiting in the hallway. Effortless messy hair, vintage band tee, like he wasn't trying at all.

"Hey." He leaned against the doorframe. "You okay? You were in there a while."

"I'm fine." I smoothed my hair. "Just... bathroom stuff."

"Cool. Cool." He looked at me for a second. "So I was gonna ask if you wanted to-"

But Mittens had other plans. She bolted from the bathroom, through Felix's legs, and into the living room where everyone was still panicking about the cable situation.

"Is that a cat?" someone screamed.

"Catch it!"

The next ten minutes were pure chaos. Teenagers trying to "help" catch my cat, who was living her best life running circles around them. I ended up cornering her under the TV cabinet, spinach in my teeth, waterlogged phone in my pocket, feeling like the biggest loser on earth.

Then Felix knelt beside me.

"Need backup?" he asked, like this was a tactical mission and not my personal apocalypse.

Together we wrangled Mittens out. When I finally sat down, Felix handed me his phone.

"Here. Since yours went swimming. You can add your Insta if you want."

I looked at him - really looked at him. He wasn't laughing. He was just... there.

"Thanks," I said, feeling something unclench in my chest. "For the backup, I mean."

"No problem." He grinned. "Besides, now I have an excuse to text you later."

My phone was dead. My cat was a chaos demon. I had spinach in my teeth and felt like a zombie from staying up too late. But as Felix sat down beside me and started complaining about the cable situation like we'd been friends for years, I thought: maybe surviving this mess was worth it.

Maybe tonight wasn't a disaster.

Maybe it was just the beginning.