Zombie Mode

Maya dragged herself through the hallway, feeling like a straight-up zombie after staying up until 3 AM scrolling through TikTok. The harsh fluorescent lights made her headache pulse harder. She seriously needed some water and possibly an IV drip of caffeine.

"You look like actual death," whispered Jake, leaning against her locker. His hair was perfectly messy, because of course it was. "Big party at Tyler's tonight. You coming?"

Maya's stomach did that annoying flutter thing. "I don't know, Jake. I've got that chem test to study for and..."

"Bro, it's Tyler's party. Everyone's gonna be there." He raised his eyebrows. "Even Harrison will be there."

Her face got hot. Harrison, who she'd been lowkey crushing on since September, was going to be there. But parties weren't exactly her scene. Last time she'd tried to be social, she'd spent two hours hovering near the snack table pretending to be intensely interested in a bag of Doritos.

"I'll think about it," she said, grabbing her chem textbook.

By 9 PM, Maya stood outside Tyler's house, heart pounding like crazy. The bass was already shaking the windows. She smoothed her outfit for the fiftieth time and took a deep breath. You got this. Just be cool.

Inside, the air smelled like cheap cologne and something sweet. People were everywhere—dancing, laughing, living their best lives. Maya grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and tried to look like she belonged there.

"Maya!" Harrison appeared out of nowhere, smiling. "I wasn't sure if you'd come."

"Yeah, well, here I am," she said, trying to sound chill. "Just needed to escape from homework for a bit."

"I feel you. I'm basically running on vitamin D supplements and hope at this point." He laughed, and it was genuinely cute. "Want to go somewhere quieter? This is kinda overwhelming."

They ended up on the back porch, just talking. About school, about college applications, about how weird it was that everyone expected them to have their whole lives figured out at seventeen. For the first time all night, Maya wasn't pretending.

"You know," Harrison said, "this is actually nice. Better than being inside with all those people performing for each other."

"Right?" Maya took a sip of her water. "Sometimes I feel like we're all just zombies trying to act normal."

He smiled. "Exactly. But hey, at least we're zombies together now."

Maya smiled back, feeling something warm and real spark in her chest. Maybe parties weren't so terrible after all—or maybe she'd just found the right person to be a zombie with.