Zombie State of Mind

I popped the chewable vitamin C into my mouth, grimacing at the artificial orange explosion. Mom swore these would keep me from getting sick before finals, but honestly? I was already dead inside.

"You coming to padel today?" Maya asked, leaning against my locker like she owned the hallway. Her tennis racket bag was slung over one shoulder, that privileged-person equipment that screamed my parents pay for club sports.

"Can't," I lied. "Study session."

Truth was, I'd been avoiding the padel courts for two weeks. Ever since Jason—the guy I'd been low-key flirting with since September—had completely ghosted me after I sent him that playlist. The social rejection hit harder than I wanted to admit.

I shuffled to my next period, moving through the crowded hallway like a zombie in an apocalypse movie. Arms out, brain half-off, just trying to survive the teenage wasteland without getting my head bitten off.

"Dude, you look rough," Marcus said at lunch, sliding into the seat across from me. "Rough night?"

"Rough life," I muttered, poking at my untouched sandwich.

That's when Jason walked past our table. With HER. Emily, who played padel competitively and had somehow managed to perfect the effortless wave without looking like she was trying. They were laughing at something, and I felt that hollow ache in my chest, that Vitamin D deficiency of the soul that no supplement could fix.

"Forget him," Maya said, suddenly appearing behind me with terrifying accuracy. "We're going to the courts. You, me, right now. I'll teach you my backhand."

"I'm terrible at racquet sports."

"So what? We'll be terrible together. C'mon, zombie girl. Time for your resurrection."

And somehow, standing on that padel court later, whiffing shots and laughing so hard my stomach hurt, I realized something. Maybe the vitamin I needed all along wasn't something I could swallow. Maybe it was this—friends who showed up, even when you were too busy feeling like the walking dead to notice you needed them.

My backhand still sucked. But for the first time in weeks, I actually felt alive.