Zombie Brain and the Orange Cat

Maya dragged herself into third period chemistry feeling like a straight-up zombie. Three hours of sleep thanks to that stupid AP History paper, and now she had to survive Paige's entire performance about how Blake's party was literally the best thing that ever happened.

"You missed SO much," Paige announced, flipping her perfect hair. "Blake's brother is this total bull, like literally chased us out of the backyard at 2 AM. It was iconic."

Maya nodded automatically, her brain operating on 5% battery. Being the new friend sucked sometimes — everyone expected you to care about their drama while you were still trying to figure out which bathroom was which.

The bell rang. Bless.

She headed toward the back of the school where she'd discovered a hiding spot near the old art building. That's when she saw it — this scrawny orange cat sitting on a bench like it owned the place. Not moving. Just vibing.

Maya sat next to it. The cat side-eyed her but didn't bounce.

"I feel you," Maya whispered. "Social battery dead. Need recharge."

From behind her, someone snorted. "Cat got more game than half the football team."

She turned to see this girl with electric blue hair and combat boots. What.

"That's Orange Julius," the girl said, sitting down without asking. "Showed up last semester. We just let him be. He's lowkey the only real one here."

Maya blinked. Was this happening?

"I'm Sam," the girl said, pulling an actual orange from her pocket and peeling it. "You're the new girl who looks like she hasn't slept since 2019."

"Maya." She accepted the orange segment Sam handed her without thinking. "And accurate."

They sat there for twenty minutes. Not talking about parties or gossip or who was dating who. Just sitting with a cat who honestly couldn't care less about either of them, eating orange segments while the bell rang for fourth period and neither of them moved.

"Yeah," Sam said finally, "this is way better than Blake's party."

Maya felt something weird happen in her chest, like maybe she'd just found a real friend instead of having to fake it through another Paige performance.

"A million times better," she agreed.

The orange cat flicked his tail, like he'd known that all along.