Zombie State of Mind

Maya dragged herself through the beach party like a literal zombie. Finals week had turned her brain into mush, and the only thing keeping her upright was the sheer force of caffeine and her mom's emergency vitamin C packets that tasted like toxic orange dust.

"You look dead," said Jordan, appearing beside her with two plastic cups.

"Thanks, that's exactly the vibe I'm going for." Maya accepted the cup he offered. "What's this?"

"Water. You're dehydrated and it's making you grumpy." His dimples showed when he smiled, which was unfair honestly. Jordan had been her lab partner all year and somehow still hadn't noticed that Maya's entire personality rearranged itself whenever he walked into the room.

They found a spot near a cluster of palm trees, where the party noise faded into background static. Maya sipped the water, feeling slightly less like a corpse. "So, big summer plans?"

"Working at my uncle's surf shop." Jordan shrugged. "Not exactly thrilling. What about you?"

Maya considered lying. Saying she'd be doing cool things, traveling, having adventures. Instead she blurted out: "I'm taking that summer enrichment program at the community college. The one for nerds who want to get ahead on chemistry."

Why did she say that? That was literally the most uncool thing she could've possibly said.

Jordan nodded slowly. "That's actually smart. I was going to sign up for that but the schedule conflicted with work." He hesitated. "Maybe you could, like, help me catch up in the fall? Since you'll be ahead?"

Maya's stomach did that flip-flop thing that happened only in movies. "Yeah. I could do that."

They sat there as the sky turned purple, not zombie-like anymore, just two people figuring out that maybe they weren't as different as they'd thought. Maya's phone buzzed in her pocket—her mom checking in, probably—and she smiled into her water cup.

Sometimes the most unexpected things happened when you stopped walking around like the living dead and actually let yourself feel alive.