Zombies Don't Take Vitamins

Maya dragged herself into third period, feeling exactly like the walking dead she'd binge-watched until 3 AM. Her mom had left a neon sticky note on the bathroom mirror: TAKE YOUR VITAMIN. Apparently, D3 was supposed to fix everything—her skin, her mood, her entire sophomore existence. Spoiler alert: it hadn't.

"You look like actual garbage," said Jordan, sliding into the desk beside her. Jordan, who had somehow invented a new aesthetic every week since seventh grade. Currently: cottage-core meets whatever the opposite of effort was.

"Thanks, I'm channeling zombie-chic," Maya muttered, popping a cherry gummy vitamin from her pocket like contraband.

The classroom air thickened as Lucas entered. The absolute BULL of the junior class—capital letters fully deserved. He swaggered like he owned the hallway, his laugh echoing three seconds before he actually appeared. Maya's stomach did that annoying flutter thing, which was ridiculous because Lucas was exactly the kind of guy who'd ask for her number just to lose it.

"Did you see his story?" Jordan whispered. "He posted that fox he saw in his backyard. Acting like he's some wildlife whisperer or something."

Maya had seen it. The fox had been majestic, orange fur glowing against dusk, and Lucas's caption had been "Nature is crazy lol." The most basic thing anyone had ever said about anything.

"He's trying to be deep," Maya rolled her eyes. "It's giving performance art."

"What's giving?"

"Sorry. Internet slang. I'm absorbing it through osmosis like my dignity."

Jordan cackled, and Maya felt something warm and actual in her chest. Not a crush-flutter, but real laughter. The kind that made her forget she was running on four hours of sleep and false hope.

The vitamin gummy tasted like artificial strawberries and second chances.

She watched Lucas hold court across the room, his crowd gathered like moths to a flame that wasn't even that bright. And for the first time in forever, Maya didn't feel jealous or invisible or wrong.

She was tired. She was awkward. She was absolutely definitely not going to start taking vitamins regularly.

But she wasn't zombie-level dead inside anymore.

Baby steps.