Zombie Gummies

Maya's mom stood in the kitchen doorway, holding out the orange bottle like it was a peace offering. "Your dad says these will help with... everything."

"They're literally just gummy vitamins with a zombie on the label," Maya said, but she took them anyway because her mom's eyes looked tired in that way Maya hated seeing.

The hair situation was another story. Two days ago, Maya had chopped it all off in the bathroom sink—buzzed the sides, left the top long—and now she looked like she'd walked out of a dystopian YA novel. Which was sort of the point.

At school, people stared. Jenna whispered something to Chloe in AP Bio that made them both look over. Maya kept her head down, feeling like she was moving through water, like her limbs weren't quite hers. Zombie mode, activated.

Then came the weekend makeover party at Taylor's house—Taylor, whose Instagram was basically a shrine to perfection. Maya almost bailed, but she'd promised herself she'd stop doing that.

She walked in with her half-shaved head and oversized hoodie, feeling every pair of eyes land on her like heat lamps. Taylor's living room looked like a Sephora had exploded.

"Oh my GOD, Maya!" Taylor rushed over, hands reaching. "What happened to your—"

"Happened on purpose," Maya said, before Taylor could finish. She wasn't embarrassed. She was done with that.

But then Leo was there, the quiet skater boy she'd had a crush on since October, looking at her with actual interest instead of judgment.

"Did you use clippers?" he asked.

"Yeah. My sister's boyfriend's grooming kit."

"That's sick," Leo said, like he meant it. "I've been thinking about buzzing mine. My mom would literally kill me though."

They sat together on the floor while everyone else did face masks and took thirst photos. Maya told him about the vitamins her dad kept buying, how they were supposed to fix her attention span or her mood or whatever was "wrong" with her this semester. Leo talked about how he quit the soccer team because he was playing zombie, just showing up and going through the motions.

"I feel like that's just, like, seventeen," Maya said. "We're all zombies."

"Yeah, but." Leo's hand brushed hers, just barely. "Some zombies are cuter than others."

Maya laughed so hard she snorted, and it was the first time all week she'd felt properly alive.

Later, she caught her reflection in Taylor's bathroom mirror and actually recognized herself for the first time in months. The hair. The crooked smile. The zombie gummies in her pocket she'd forgotten to take.

Some things you grew into. Some things you cut away. And sometimes you had to feel dead to realize how much you wanted to live.