Green Smoothie Betrayal

Maya's phone buzzed on the cafeteria table. Her iphone lit up with a notification that made her stomach drop.

@QUEENBEE_K: loved your post! we should hang 😉

"No way," whispered Jace, leaning over her shoulder. "She literally never notices anyone outside the pyramid."

The pyramid — that's what they called the invisible social hierarchy at Northwood High. Queen bee Kayla sat at the top, then her squad, then... everyone else. Maya had been orbiting at the bottom since sixth grade, until yesterday when her smoothie TikTok somehow went viral. Now the most popular girl in school wanted to be friends?

"I made this smoothie with spinach and mango," Maya had said in the video, holding up the disgusting green sludge. "It's supposed to be healthy."

She'd taken one sip and nearly gagged on camera. The internet loved it. 500K views later, she was accidentally cool.

Now Kayla wanted to collab on content. The opportunity of a lifetime, or a social death trap?

At lunch, Maya sat with Jace and Chen, watching Kayla's table across the cafeteria. Someone had peeled an orange, and the citrus scent drifted over, mixing with the smell of pizza and betrayal.

"You're not seriously considering it," Chen said. "Remember last year when she pretended to be friends with Lily, then made fun of her art project? She's a fox in sheep's clothing, Maya."

Maya's phone buzzed again. Kayla had posted: "collab with @mayasmoothies dropping tomorrow 💚"

She hadn't even said yes.

"What do I do?" Maya whispered. "If I say no, I look ungrateful. If I say yes, I'm literally selling out."

Jace snorted. "Or you could just be yourself. The smoothie video went viral because you were genuine. That's literally the whole point."

Maya looked at her phone, at Kayla's perfect feed, at Jace and Chen who'd been her real friends through every awkward phase. The spinach smoothie from yesterday sat forgotten in her bag, probably fermenting into something truly toxic by now.

She grabbed a banana from Chen's tray and stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"To make another video," Maya said. "A real one."

The next morning, Maya posted: "why i'm NOT collabing with @QUEENBEE_K — and why being uncool is actually the coolest thing you can be."

Her phone blew up. But mostly, she got a text from Jace: "proud of you. also that smoothie looked genuinely gross. 10/10 would not drink."

Maya laughed. The pyramid could keep its hierarchy. She was building her own thing, one disastrously healthy beverage at a time.