Pyramid of Empty Cans

Maya's palms were sweating so bad she could practically fill a pool. Which was ironic, considering she was standing next to one.

"Yo Maya, you good?" Marcus asked, already shirtless and holding his phone like it was a religious artifact.

"Yeah, just, you know. Existing." She adjusted her crop top for the hundredth time.

The summer party was in full swing—literally, because some sophomore had already belly-flopped into the deep end. Everywhere Maya looked, people were radiating that effortless confidence she'd been chasing since seventh grade. The high school social pyramid stretched before her like a terrifying architectural wonder, and she was currently chilling at the base, possibly in the basement.

Then she saw him.

Caleb. The baseball god. He was by the snack table, laughing at something, all golden skin and easy charisma like he'd been manufactured in a lab labeled "Teen Dream."

Maya's phone buzzed. Her best friend Sakura had sent a screenshot of their class chat: Caleb had broken up with Jessica two days ago.

"OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS," Sakura's message read, followed by approximately thirty flame emojis.

Maya groaned. "I cannot do this."

"Do what?" Marcus had returned. "You gonna swim or what?"

"I'm working up to it."

"Cool, cool. Hey, did you see what Leo brought?"

Marcus pointed to the patio table where Leo—the guy who'd apparently peaked at age twelve—was constructing something out of empty soda cans. A pyramid. Seven on the bottom, then six, then five, climbing toward greatness.

"It's about stability," Leo was explaining to a girl who was definitely not listening. "Like, ancient Egyptian vibes but with Sprite."

Maya was dying.

Then Caleb walked over. Her stomach did something genuinely concerning.

"That's actually kinda sick," Caleb said, nodding at the can pyramid. "Too bad it's probably gonna get knocked over."

Maya opened her mouth to say something cool, something normal, something that didn't make her sound like she'd learned human interaction from a WikiHow article.

"I have a goldfish," she blurted.

Everyone stared.

"What?" Caleb asked.

"His name is Bubbles. He's orange. He—sometimes he looks at me like he knows things."

Dead silence. Then Caleb grinned, and it was worse and better than she'd imagined.

"That's honestly kind of iconic. My sister had one that ate all the other fish in the tank. It was a serial killer goldfish."

Maya laughed so hard she almost fell into the pool.

The night ended with Leo's can pyramid getting toppled by an overexcited freshman, Marcus attempting to teach Maya to dive (she mostly just existed near water), and Maya's number somehow ending up in Caleb's phone.

Her palms were still sweaty. But maybe, just maybe, she wasn't stuck at the bottom of that pyramid anymore.