Waiting for Lightning

The party felt like a zombie apocalypse, except with better lighting and way more spiked punch. I stood near the snack table, nursing a flat soda, feeling spectacularly out of place. Everyone else moved with practiced ease; meanwhile, I'd just told a 7-Eleven cashier "you too" when she said enjoy your purchase.

Tyler appeared, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. "Dude, this party is a pyramid scheme."

"The what?"

"The social pyramid," he pointed toward the living room where popular kids clustered. "Bottom tier: us. Top tier: people who can breathe and make it look cool."

I snorted into my soda. "We're literally standing next to goldfish crackers. We've peaked."

The goldfish crackers were my only friend at this point. My fingers were coated in orange dust that tasted like childhood and questionable decisions.

Then Maya walked in — the girl who sat behind me in English, drawing tiny landscapes in the margins of worksheets. I'd spent hundreds of hours thinking about her but zero seconds actually talking to her.

She made a beeline for the goldfish crackers.

"Those are the survivors," I heard myself say.

She laughed, and it sounded like lightning — sudden, bright, electricity down my spine.

"I'm saving them from this party," she said, popping one into her mouth. "They deserve better."

"Same," I said. "But with my dignity instead of cheddar."

"I'm Maya. I think you're in my English class."

"Yeah. Marcus. The guy who forgot his book five times."

"I remember. You borrowed mine and fell asleep on it."

Her phone buzzed. She pulled out a charging cable wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet. "My brother's ride fell through. Classic."

"You need a ride? Tyler drove me."

She studied me for a second. "You'd do that?"

"Sure. Anything to escape the zombie apocalypse."

"Okay, zombie slayer," she smiled, and something inside me rearranged itself. "Let's save these goldfish."

We walked outside as lightning flashed in the distance, illuminating the sky in purple streaks. And suddenly I didn't feel like a zombie anymore. I felt awake, like I'd just started existing.

The pyramid didn't matter. The cable was just a cable. But the goldfish in my pocket and the girl beside me — that felt like the beginning of something.

"Next time," I said, "I'll stay awake in English."

She grinned. "I'll hold you to that."

Sometimes you don't need to climb the pyramid. Sometimes you just need someone to stand beside you, eating goldfish, waiting for lightning to strike.