When We Were Walking Dead

The cafeteria smelled like regret and overcooked pizza, but Maya sat there anyway, picking at what looked like chunks of papaya in her fruit cup. She didn't even like papaya, but her mom had packed it, claiming it was "exotic" and "sophisticated" — words that definitely did not describe Maya's life as a junior in high school who still got butterflies when her crush walked by.

"You're doing it again," Jalen said, sliding into the seat across from her. "That zombie thing."

Maya blinked. "What zombie thing?"

"That thing where you literally shut down whenever Lucas is within a fifty-foot radius. You go full zombie. No thoughts, head empty, just..." Jalen made a dead-eyed face and let his jaw go slack.

"I don't do that." Maya felt her face heating up. "And we're not even... whatever. He probably doesn't even know I exist."

"Girl." Jalen's voice softened. "He literally asked if you were going to Winter Formal. He asked ME. Because he was too scared to ask YOU."

Maya's fork paused halfway to her mouth. A piece of papaya fell back into the cup with a soft plop. "Wait. What?"

"I'm your best friend, Maya. I'm legally obligated to tell you when you're being obtuse." Jalen smirked, but there was something real in his eyes. "Also, I saw him writing your name on his hand today. In pen. Like a third grader."

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Maya's heart was doing that thing where it felt too big for her chest. Zombie mode, she realized suddenly, wasn't about being dead inside. It was about being too scared to really live.

She stood up, leaving her untouched fruit cup behind.

"Where are you going?" Jalen called after her. "You have AP Calc!"

Maya turned back, grinning. "I know. But I think I need to go talk to a boy about his handwriting."

Jalen gave her a thumbs-up. "Maya's back from the dead, everybody. Alert the media."

Maya walked down the crowded hallway, past students who looked up from their phones just long enough to nod at her recognition. She didn't feel like a zombie anymore. She felt like someone who was about to do something terrifying and wonderful and completely alive.