Zombie State of Mind

Maya dragged herself through the school hallway feeling like a literal **zombie**. Three hours of sleep after binge-watching that new dystopian series would do that to you. Her bestmate Jax caught up by her locker, looking annoyingly fresh-faced.

"Dude, you look dead," Jax said, eyeing her. "Here." He shoved a **vitamin** C supplement at her. "My mom's on this health kick. Take it before you collapse."

Maya rolled her but popped the chewable tablet anyway. "I'm fine. Just nervous about the party tonight."

The party. At senior Riley's house. The invite-only gathering that basically determined your entire social existence for the rest of the year. No pressure.

"You got this," Jax said, then lowered his voice. "Just don't be awkward around Lucas. Everyone knows he's into you."

Maya's stomach did that thing. Lucas. The soccer captain with the smile that made her brain short-circuit. The guy who'd actually looked at her in chem lab yesterday. TWICE.

That evening, Maya stood outside Riley's house holding her **water** bottle like a lifeline. She could hear music thumping inside, could see silhouettes through the windows. This was it. The moment she could finally graduate from invisible background character to actual protagonist.

She walked in and immediately spotted Lucas across the room. And he was wearing this ridiculous oversized **bear** hoodie—the same one she'd jokingly said looked cute when she saw it online. He looked up, caught her eye, and actually smiled.

"Hey!" He crossed the room, somehow making the bear hoodie look cool instead of chaotic. "Glad you made it."

They talked for twenty minutes straight. About everything—his soccer scholarship, her secret obsession with photography, their shared hatred for cafeteria pizza. It was the most real conversation she'd had with anyone in months.

Then some random dude bumped into her, knocking her water bottle straight onto Lucas's hoodie.

Maya thought she would die. Literally wanted to evaporate. But Lucas just laughed, wiping the splash from his chest. "Epic save, 10/10 for dramatic effect."

Later that night, Maya lay in bed staring at her ceiling. She wasn't a zombie anymore. She was someone who'd spilled water on a cute guy's bear hoodie and lived to tell the tale. Someone worth talking to. Someone who might actually be ready for her life to begin.