Green in the Deep End

Maya's first mistake was trusting Leo's 'guaranteed path to popularity.' The senior's pyramid scheme—get three freshmen to buy into his fake tutoring business, then they recruit three more—had sucked her in before she realized she was just another brick in someone else's pyramid.

Now here she was, at the end-of-summer pool party that determined everything, wearing a one-piece she'd thrifted because her parents were 'budgeting.' The social hierarchy floated before her in the water: popular kids near the diving board like sphinxes on their thrones, watching everyone else with mysterious, judgmental eyes.

"Hey, new girl," called Brianna, who Maya had tried to recruit for Leo's scam yesterday. "Want to play chicken fights?"

Maya's stomach did that awful fluttery thing. She couldn't swim that well—another reason this party was torture. But she nodded, because what choice did she have?

She waded in, water rising past her knees, her waist, her chest. The pool's surface reflected string lights, turning everything liquid and golden. Maya felt like she was swimming through someone else's life.

Then she saw it: Brianna laughing, pointing, whispering to her friends. A piece of bright green spinach—leftover from the veggie platter, she'd been eating nervously—was wedged between her front teeth.

The realization hit like a physical blow. She'd been walking around with it for who knew how long, talking to people, trying to be cool, and she'd had spinach in her teeth the whole time. The humiliation burned hotter than the sun on her shoulders.

Maya scrambled out of the pool, dripping and defeated. She found Leo near the snack table, already working on some poor freshman with his smooth voice and fake smile.

"You know what?" Maya said, surprising herself. "Your pyramid scheme sucks. And you've got spinach in your teeth too."

The freshman cracked up. Leo's face went bright red.

Maya walked away, her wet one-piece sticking to her skin, feeling lighter than she had all summer. Behind the pool's fence, an actual fox slipped through the bushes, orange and clever and wild.

Some things were better than being popular. Like being real. And like knowing she'd never trust another pyramid scheme as long as she lived.