Zombie Mode Activated

I was basically operating on autopilot — full zombie mode — when my sister dragged me to the padel courts that morning. Summer had reached that point where every day blurred into the next, and I was surviving on a diet of sleep deprivation and too much TikTok doom-scrolling.

"Come on, you're not gonna spend another day rotting in your room," Mia called, tossing me a racquet.

The camp counselor was this guy named Liam who acted like total bull in a china shop — loud, confident, completely unaware of personal space. He kept fist-bumping everyone and dropping slang that definitely wasn't cool anymore.

"What's up, fam! Let's get this bread!" he shouted at my sister. She actually laughed. I mentally face-palmed.

We were split into teams for some tournament that Liam hyped up like it was the Olympics. My partner was this quiet girl named Sam who kept checking her phone like she was waiting for something important to happen. Spoiler: nothing important ever happens at padel camp.

"I'm just here for the free snacks," she muttered when Liam wasn't looking.

"Same," I said, feeling slightly better about my zombie existence.

The game was actually going okay until Liam started running this commentary like he was ESPN. Every time someone made a decent shot, he'd lose it.

"WHAT A PLAY! ABSOLUTE UNITS!" he screamed, arms everywhere.

I caught Sam's eye and we both cracked up. Something about how ridiculous this whole situation was — the fake energy, the forced socialization, the way everyone pretended to care about winning some plastic trophy — it just hit me.

Later, when we somehow made it to the finals (Sam actually carried us, ngl), Liam gathered everyone for his big motivational speech.

"You're not just players," he said, suddenly serious. "You're a team. You've got each other's backs out there. That's what matters."

I looked at Sam, who was actually smiling now. Maybe she wasn't just waiting for something important to happen. Maybe she was waiting for this — for someone to say something that wasn't completely idiotic.

"Not bad for a zombie," she whispered as we went back on court.

I laughed, and for the first time all summer, I actually felt awake.