Poolside Pyramid Scheme

The summer after sophomore year, I learned two things: one, the social hierarchy at Carson's pool party was a pyramid, and two, I was definitely at the bottom.

"Dude, you look like a zombie," Maya said, handing me a soda. "You good?"

"Yeah. Just tired." I took it. The condensation cold against my palm.

The thing about pool parties in July is that they're always the same. The popular crew claimed the deep end like they owned it, forming their pyramid of status with Carson and Jenna at the apex—tan, perfect, and seemingly effortless in their domination of teenage social dynamics. The rest of us scattered around the shallow end or patio chairs, trying to look like we weren't calculating our exact position in the hierarchy.

I'd been in love with Jenna since seventh grade, which was approximately forever in teenage years. My cousin Marcus had tried to convince me to join his MLM pyramid scheme over the summer—"financial freedom, bro, you'll be making six figures by college"—but the only pyramid I actually cared about was the one that kept Jenna miles away from me, socially speaking.

"Your brother's streaming old zombie movies on the TV inside," Tyler mentioned. "Cable's been cutting out though."

Perfect. I retreated inside.

The rec room was dark, cool, blessedly empty. Someone had strung an extension cable from the TV across the floor, a total tripping hazard that nobody had bothered to fix. I sank onto the couch and clicked through glitchy channels until I found what Tyler was talking about—grainy black-and-white zombies shambling through some graveyard.

"Boring, right?" a voice said.

Jenna. In here. Alone. My heart did that stupid teenage thing where it forgot how to beat normally.

"Yeah," I managed. "Cable's barely working."

"Thank god." She dropped onto the other end of the couch. "I needed an escape. Out there? It's exhausting. Everyone performing all the time."

She gestured toward the patio door, where through the glass I could see them all—our classmates, our friends, the whole social pyramid shimmering in the heat, everyone playing their parts.

"I feel like a zombie sometimes," she said. "Just going through the motions. You know?"

"Yeah," I said. "I know."

She smiled. Real. Not the practiced one from outside. And for the first time all summer, the pyramid didn't seem so important after all.