Zombie State

I'd been a zombie for three days straight, thanks to finals week and my brilliant decision to binge-watch Until Dawn until 3 AM every night. My eyes burned like I'd rubbed them with sandpaper, and Mr. Henderson's voice droned on about something I couldn't process even if I wanted to.

"Earth to Marcus," Jordan whispered from behind me, flicking the back of my ear. "You good? You look dead-ish."

"Zombie mode," I muttered, cracking my neck. "Surviving on pure spite and those disgustingly sour gummy vitamins my mom makes me take."

Jordan laughed, then her expression shifted. "Hey, did you hear about Tyler's new thing? He's trying to get everyone into that energy drink pyramid scheme. Like, he's literally calling it a 'business opportunity' and trying to recruit people under him."

I snorted. classic Tyler. The guy who once tried to sell us 'premium' bottled water from his garage.

Lunch was a battlefield. I got stuck with the mystery meat—again—and managed to get a massive piece of spinach wedged between my front teeth. Of course this happened right when Chloe walked by.

"Hey Marcus," she said, smiling. Her varsity jacket was embroidered with 'BASEBALL CAPTAIN' across the back. "You coming to watch practice? Coach wants to see if anyone's interested in joining next season."

I froze. Spinach. Definitely spinach in my teeth. I'd never live this down.

"Yeah," I managed, trying to smile without showing my teeth. "Totally. Baseball's… great."

Chloe's eyes flickered to my mouth. She didn't say anything, but this tiny smirk played at the corner of her mouth. Not mean, just… knowing.

"Cool," she said. "See you there."

I bolted to the bathroom, already pulling out my phone to Google 'how to get spinach out of teeth without looking like a weirdo.' Jordan caught up with me in the hallway, practically doubled over laughing.

"Dude," she wheezed. "Chloe definitely saw the spinach. But she still invited you to baseball practice. That's… actually kind of cute?"

I glared at her, but I couldn't help it. I started laughing too. Maybe zombie week wasn't so bad after all. At least I had a story—and maybe, just maybe, a reason to finally get some sleep.