Zombie Cats and Orange Dreams

Maya dragged herself to the baseball field feeling like a straight-up zombie. Three consecutive nights of binge-watching apocalyptic shows will do that to you. The Friday night lights flickered on as she found her spot in the bleachers, sandwiched between the preppy crowd and the kids who skipped the pep rallies.

Her crush, Jordan, was warming up on the mound. Maya's palms were sweating—classic nervous energy that hit whenever he was within a fifty-foot radius. She'd accidentally dyed her hair a weird orange last weekend trying to look more 'vibe-y' for him, and now she was stuck with a haystack-colored mess that screamed 'desperate but not cool with it.'

A stray cat slunk around the dugout, eyeing the concession stand like it owned the place. Maya had named it Glitch because it showed up randomly and disappeared just as fast. Kinda like her confidence whenever Jordan looked her way.

"Yo, you coming to the party after?" Chloe yelled from three rows down, already buzzing whatever her older sister bought for the weekend.

"Maybe?" Maya called back, even though they both knew she wasn't. Parties weren't really her scene—too many people pretending to be someone they weren't, which was ironic considering that's basically what high school was anyway.

Jordan threw a fastball that painted the corner of the plate. Strike three. The crowd went nuts. Maya clapped along, feeling weirdly proud of him even though they'd barely spoken since seventh period English. He'd made some dumb joke about how reading old books felt like communicating with the undead, and she'd actually laughed. A genuine laugh, not her fake I'm-listening-because-I'm-polite laugh.

The cat wound through the bleachers, stopping at Maya's feet to stare at her partially-eaten bag of chips. She tossed it a chip. It ate like royalty, not even saying thank you. Rude.

Her phone buzzed. Unknown number. 'hey, this is jordan from english. u coming to the game tomorrow? coach said we need more people in the stands or he's making us run laps.'

Maya stared at her phone, heart doing something stupid and fluttery. The orange glow of sunset reflected off the screen as she typed back 'yeah, definitely. wouldn't want you guys dying on me.'

She hit send. The zombie feeling faded, replaced by something better. Glitch the cat rubbed against her ankle like it approved. Maya leaned back and watched the rest of the game, palms dry for the first time all night. Tomorrow, she'd actually talk to him. Probably. Maybe. Okay, definitely.