Zombie Mode and Other Disasters

Maya dragged herself through the school hallway, feeling like absolute **zombie** material after three hours of sleep and a week of finals. Her favorite hoodie—the one with the fake fur lining—was practically her only personality trait at this point.

"You good, May?" Liam asked, falling into step beside her. Liam, with his perfect messy hair and dimples that made everyone's brain short-circuit.

"Just functioning on autopilot," she managed, praying her breath didn't smell like the garlic knot she'd inhaled for lunch.

Her phone buzzed. Mrs. Chen again: "Can you walk Buster tonight? Emergency at the clinic."

Walking Buster—the neighbor's elderly golden retriever—should've been easy. Except Buster spotted something in the woods and decided he was secretly a sled dog, dragging Maya straight through a mud puddle. Her Vans were soaked. Great.

That's when she saw it: a **fox**, all copper and clever, watching them from behind a tree. Its eyes met hers, like it knew something she didn't. Buster lost his mind, barking like he'd just discovered his life's purpose.

The chase ended in someone's backyard. Maya finally got Buster under control, wiping mud from her jeans. Then her reflection hit her in a sliding glass door.

**Spinach**. From dinner. Wedged firmly between her front teeth.

She'd been talking to Liam. For twenty minutes. With spinach in her teeth.

"You've gotta be kidding me," she groaned, Buster now wagging his tail like he'd just won an Olympic medal.

Later that night, FaceTime with her bestie Kai: "So you were a zombie, your dog tried to fight a fox, and you had spinach in your teeth while talking to your crush? That's not even your worst moment this week."

"Remind me why we're friends?"

"Because I'm the only one who'll laugh at you instead of at you. Big difference."

Maya caught herself smiling despite everything. Maybe tomorrow she'd finally get more than three hours of sleep. Probably not, though. That was just high school. Zombies, mud, and embarrassment. The whole disaster package.