No Cap Pyramid Scheme

Marcus stared at the pyramid of Red Bull cans on Jake's basement coffee table—twelve cans high, wobbling like a drunk giraffe.

"Dude," Jake said, flopping onto the couch and unlocking his iPhone 15 Pro Max. "My cousin's making bank with this crypto thing. It's literally a pyramid but, like, a GOOD one. No cap."

Marcus side-eyed him. "That's called a pyramid scheme, Jake. That's literally what that is."

"You're just hating," Jake scoffed, already typing furiously. "Watch, by prom I'm driving a Tesla."

That was Jake's MO—always chasing the next big thing, always convinced THIS would be the one. Last month it was dropshipping branded fidget spinners. The month before, some NFT project that turned out to be a rug pull.

Marcus's phone buzzed. A text from Chloe: *is jake actually doing that crypto thing lol*

He typed back: *unfortunately yes. i told him it's bull but you know how he gets*

The pyramid of cans tipped over. Cans rolled everywhere, spilling onto the carpet. Jake didn't even notice. He was deep in a Discord call with three other guys from school, all of them talking over each other about "APY" and "gem hunting" and other words they'd learned from TikTok crypto influencers.

Marcus stood up, grabbing his backpack. "Yo, I'm heading out."

"What? Why?" Jake finally looked up from his iPhone. "We're about to go live on Twitch. You could be, like, my first investor."

"Jake," Marcus said softly. "Bro. I love you, but this is bull. You know it, I know it. Just... take the L and let's go get Taco Bell or something."

Jake stared at him. The silence stretched. Somewhere outside, a car drove past with bass thumping.

Then Jake sighed, setting down his phone. "Fine. But you're buying."

"Deal," Marcus grinned. "And we're taking down that pyramid of cans first. My mom will actually kill me if she sees this mess."

As they cleaned up the scattered Red Bull cans, Marcus realized something: growing up meant learning when to call bull, even on your friends. Especially when you did it because you didn't want to see them crash harder than that wobbly pyramid of caffeine and bad decisions.