Poolside Pyramid Scheme

Maya stared at the **swimming** pool deck, mentally arranging everyone into their proper social layers. At the top: Tyler with his shirt off, doing laps like he owned the water. The middle: everyone else pretending not to care. The bottom: herself, clutching her **iPhone** like a lifeline.

"You coming in?" called Jenna, floating on a neon inflatable. Her hair was perfect. Maya's was already frizzing in the humidity.

"Maybe," Maya lied, thumbing through her feed. Three new posts from Tyler's party last night. Three reminders she hadn't been invited.

Her charging **cable** was tangled around her ankle, a sad tether to the only outlet within reach. Low battery: 12%. The universal teen anxiety.

Then Tyler hauled himself out of the pool, water dripping like he was in some music video. He started organizing people into a human **pyramid** in the shallow end. "We need more people at the base!" he yelled. "Maya, come here!"

Jenna caught her eye and gave a tiny head tilt. Not mean, exactly. Just real.

Maya stood up, cable snagging on her chair. Her phone buzzed — another notification, another FOMO ping — but this time she didn't check. The pyramid was wobbling. Tyler was laughing at something Jenna said. And for once, Maya didn't calculate the angles.

She slipped off her flip-flops.

"Move over," she said, stepping into the shallow end. "I've got core strength for days."

Jenna high-fived her as the pyramid stabilized, all shaky knees and splashy chaos, but somehow holding. Tyler looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time. Or maybe just noticing she'd been there all along.

Her iPhone sat on the deck, screen dark, forgotten.

The pyramid lasted exactly three seconds before collapsing into glorious chaos. But as Maya came up sputtering, laughing so hard her nose hurt, she realized something: she'd rather be in the water than watching from the edge.

Later, she'd check her phone. There would be posts to like, dramas to scroll. But right now, she was too busy holding up her side of the pyramid, one wobbly, wonderful layer at a time.