When Zombies Crash the Midnight Run

Maya's fingers flew across her phone screen, barely noticeable against the backdrop of her dark room. 2:47 AM. Her Discord server was blowing up.

"U up?" messaged Jordan, the cute sophomore from her AP Chem class who'd somehow become her gaming buddy over spring break.

"Always," she typed back, heart doing that annoying fluttery thing. "Why?"

"Zombie apocalypse in Minecraft. The server's wild right now. Get on."

Maya's black cat, Midnight, chose that exact moment to jump onto her keyboard. 'HHHHHHHHHHHH' appeared in the chat.

"Smooth," Jordan replied. "Real smooth."

Maya shoved Midnight aside (gently, bc he was her emotional support fur baby) and typed: "My cat's sabotaging my social life. Hold up."

The truth was, Maya had been running from something way more terrifying than virtual zombies. She'd been ghosting their group chat since Jordan mentioned he liked someone else last week. Her someone else. Classic Maya move - overthink everything until the opportunity decayed like a forgotten sandwich in her backpack.

"You still there?" Jordan's message popped up. "Or did the cat win?"

A flash of lightning illuminated her room through the blinds, followed immediately by thunder that shook the window frame. Perfect weather for overthinking.

"I'm here," she typed, then paused. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Anything. Unless it's about homework. Then no."

Maya took a breath. Why was this so hard? They'd stayed up until 4 AM multiple nights this week, discussing everything from why their high school's bathroom mirrors were always weirdly foggy to which Marvel movies were mid.

"About what you said last week. About liking someone."

The typing indicator appeared. Disappeared. Appeared again.

"Yeah?"

"Was it me?"

Three dots danced at the bottom of her screen. Maya's heart hammered against her ribs like it was trying to escape her chest.

"What if I said yeah?" Jordan finally replied. "What would you say?"

Another lightning flash, closer this time. Midnight scrambled under her bed.

Maya grinned at her screen, feeling suddenly brave. "I'd say I've been running from that conversation all week and I'm done with it."

"So..."

"So yeah. Me too."

Outside, rain finally started pouring, washing away the awkwardness of the past seven days. They spent the rest of the night fighting off virtual zombies and making plans for real breakfast tomorrow, no longer running from anything, not even the truth.