Zombie Mode & Cafeteria Sphinx

The lunch line stretched ahead like some kind of punishment design, and I was already running on fumes. Three nights of studying for AP Euro had turned my brain into mush. I was basically a **zombie** at this point — dead behind the eyes, shambling through the school day on autopilot, sustained entirely by caffeine and spite.

"Earth to Marcus," said Jen, poking my arm. "You're staring at the mystery meat again. You good?"

"Yeah. Just. Thinking about how Mr. Henderson's geometry test is going to bury me alive."

"That's **bull**," Jen scoffed. "You've had a 97 all semester. You're fine."

I grabbed a tray and stared down the day's offerings: rubbery pizza, sad-looking apples, and a pile of **spinach** that had seen better centuries. The lunch ladies were ruthless with the portions — they'd heap your plate with that stuff like they'd personally planted and harvested it that morning.

But the real obstacle stood at our usual table.

Chelsea sat there like some kind of high school **sphinx** — queen bee, gossip gatekeeper, guarder of the social hierarchy. She held court with her minions, dispensing judgments and rumors like riddles you had to solve just to survive the conversation. Today, though, she looked rough. Her eyeliner was smudged, her phone kept buzzing with texts she wouldn't answer.

"What's up with Chelsea?" I whispered, sliding into my seat.

"Her and Tyler broke up," Jen said, stabbing at her spinach. "Apparently he cheated at Kai's party Friday. She found out because someone posted it on their spam account."

The table went quiet. Chelsea's eyes were red. She wasn't solving riddles today. She was just a girl who'd had her heart ripped out in front of half the sophomore class.

I looked at my untouched spinach, then at Chelsea, then back at my food. Something shifted. The zombie fatigue lifted for a second.

I pushed my tray toward her. "Hey. You want this? I'm not gonna eat it anyway."

Chelsea blinked. The sphinx mask cracked. "...Thanks."

Sometimes the worst cafeteria food doesn't taste so bad when you're hungry for something real.