Zombie Mode at Maya's

I walked into Maya's house party feeling like a total zombie. Three hours of sleep + calculus test + social anxiety = the walking dead, literally. The bass thumped through my chest as I squeezed past a group of seniors doing TikTok dances in the hallway.

"Yo, Leo! You actually came!" Maya materialized out of nowhere, looking effortlessly perfect in her crop top. "You gotta try this papaya stuff my mom got from Whole Foods. It's supposed to be, like, super exotic or something."

She shoved a bowl of orange chunks at me. I took one bite and nearly gagged.

"Bruh, what IS this?" I laughed, trying to play it cool. "It tastes like soap mixed with disappointment."

"You're uncultured," Maya teased, but her eyes kept darting toward the kitchen where Jake was laughing with his friends. Classic. The guy she'd been crushing on since September was literally five feet away, and she was stuck babysitting me with exotic fruit.

I spotted my escape route. Her cat, Mochi, was cowering under a beanbag chair, looking just as overwhelmed as I felt. I crouched down, making clicking sounds. Mochi inched out, tail puffed like a bottle brush.

"At least someone gets it," I whispered, scratching behind her ears. "Parties are the worst, huh?"

Suddenly someone knocked over a spinach dip bowl in the kitchen. Green goo splattered everywhere. Jake slipped in it, arms windmilling like a cartoon character, and crashed directly into the DJ setup. The music screeched to a halt. Everyone froze.

For three seconds, nobody moved. Then Maya snorted. Not a giggle—a full-on snort. That set me off, and soon half the party was losing it. Even Jake, covered in spinach, started laughing.

I looked at Mochi, who was now calmly licking her paw like nothing happened. Maybe parties weren't that bad after all. Or maybe I was just delirious from being a functioning zombie.

"Leo," Maya said, wiping tears from her eyes. "You're not as boring as I thought."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I said, finally feeling actually awake for the first time all night.

The zombie mode had officially been deactivated.