Zombie State of Mind

Maya hadn't slept since Wednesday. Four days of finals, college application essays, and that group project where she'd done all the work. Now she stood at the edge of Jessica's pool party, feeling like a actual zombie from the horror movies she used to binge with her brother before he moved out.

"Maya! Get in here!" someone screamed.

She fake-smiled and adjusted her hoodie. The chlorine smell hit her like a wall. Her green hair — the result of an impulsive 3 AM decision and three boxes of dye — frizzed in the humidity. She'd wanted something different. Something that screamed, "I'm not just the quiet girl who sits in the back of AP Calc."

Instead, it screamed, "I'm having an identity crisis and everyone can see it."

Her phone buzzed. Ethan.

u coming? we're doing zombie apocalypse cosplay later

Maya stared at the screen. Ethan knew she'd been dying to join that friend group all year. But showing up looking like this? When her skin was practically gray from exhaustion?

"Maya?" It was Tyler, standing way too close. "Your hair looks... interesting."

She opened her mouth to say something cool. Something that would make him laugh or at least not look at her like she was a science experiment. But her brain was still in zombie mode. Just...

"Thanks," she whispered.

Then she saw it: Jessica's little sister, crying by the deep end because someone had splashed water in her face. And without thinking, Maya was there, kneeling on the concrete, offering her own hoodie, helping the girl up.

"You're a hero," someone said. Actually, multiple someones.

Maya looked up, water dripping from her newly exposed arms, her green hair plastering to her forehead. And suddenly she wasn't tired anymore.

"Yeah," she said, really smiling now. "I guess I kind of am."