Zombie Mode Activated

Maya dragged herself through the hallway, feeling straight-up zombie. Three hours of sleep AP Chem study session will do that to you. Her eyeliner was probably smudged, and her hair was doing that weird static-frizz thing that always happened when she was stressed.

"You look dead, chica," Sofia said, falling into step beside her. "Rough night?"

"You have no idea," Maya groaned. Her pocket buzzed — her iPhone, blowing up with texts from the group chat about Leo's party tonight. Everyone was going. Like, everyone.

She'd been running from the truth all week: her parents had finally said yes to the overnight party, but there was a catch. Family dinner at Tía Rosa's first. Which meant papaya. Always papaya. Tía Rosa swore by it, said it was a "tropical fruit for growing bodies" — as if Maya was still twelve instead of sixteen. It was humiliating enough without her friends knowing.

"So... party tonight?" Sofia wiggled her eyebrows. "Marcus is gonna be there."

Maya's stomach did that flippy thing. "Yeah. I think I can go."

"Think?"

"Family stuff." Maya waved her hand vaguely.

By seventh period, Maya was vibrating with anxiety. What if Tía Rosa made a whole scene about the fruit in front of everyone? What if she had to show up to Leo's house smelling like blended tropical awkwardness?

Her iPhone screen lit up: Marcus had posted on his story. Maya's thumb hovered over the view button, then stopped. What was she doing? She was running in circles, stressing about papaya and boys and group chats when real life was happening.

At Tía Rosa's, the kitchen smelled like cumin and something sweet. Papaya sat on the counter in all its orange awkwardness.

"Mija, you're growing so fast," Tía Rosa said, scooping fruit into a bowl. "Soon you'll be too old for my special recipes."

Something twisted in Maya's chest. "Never," she said, and meant it.

She ate the papaya. She posted a selfie with Tía Rosa, captioning it "family dinner before the chaos." Her phone blew up — heart reactions from Sofia, a fire emoji from Marcus.

Some things weren't so embarrassing after all. And yeah, she still felt like a zombie. But at least she was a zombie who'd had papaya with family and had Marcus's attention. Small wins.