Palm Reads and Pyramid Schemes

Maya stared at the neon-orange **vitamin** C gummy on her tongue, the one her mom swore would 'boost her immune system during finals week.' As if. The only thing being boosted was her anxiety about the summer ahead.

"Dude, you're overthinking it," Layla said, grabbing Maya's hand. Her friend had spent the last three weeks watching palmistry tutorials on TikTok and was now convinced she could divine the future from people's hands. "Let me see your **palm**."

"You said this yesterday. And the day before." Maya let her friend trace the lines anyway. It was comforting, in a weird way—the weight of Layla's fingers, the专注 expression, the belief that something as simple as a hand could hold answers.

"Your life line's longer than mine," Layla said, squinting. "But your fate line... it's like, forked? That means you're at a crossroads. Big choice coming."

Maya laughed. "My only crossroads is whether to work at the snack shack or my cousin's 'wellness business' this summer."

Which was how she found herself at her cousin Tasha's apartment, watching a PowerPoint presentation about essential oils and financial freedom. The living walls were covered in whiteboards showing compensation tiers that suspiciously resembled a **pyramid**, though Tasha kept calling it 'multi-level marketing.'

"You start at Bronze," Tasha said, pointing to the bottom layer, "but by next year, you could be Diamond, Maya. Think about it—no boss, no cap on income. You and Layla could build a team together."

Maya's phone buzzed. Layla: *palm says u have 2 choose wise*

The room smelled like lavender and desperation. Tasha's eyes were bright with that scary certainty adults got when they'd convinced themselves of something deeply untrue. Outside, the real summer waited—the humid kind where you did stupid things with your friends and nobody made any money but everybody laughed until their stomachs hurt.

"Actually," Maya said, standing up, "I think I'm gonna try the snack shack."

"But the growth potential—"

"Yeah, no thanks." She paused at the door. "Hey Tasha? You know that thing you showed me? The compensation structure?"

"What about it?"

"It's literally a pyramid scheme."

She walked out into the heat, phone in hand, already typing Layla back. *

choice made

now come over and we'll figure out the rest together*