Pyramid of Palm Springs

Maya's palms were sweating. Again.

She gripped the cardboard edges of her history project—no, not a project. The social pyramid diagram that Mrs. Chen had assigned in groups. OF COURSE she'd been paired with Ethan. Perfect-haired, effortlessly-cool Ethan, whose Instagram stories made Maya's stomach do actual gymnastics.

"So..." Ethan leaned against her locker, spinach artfully stuck in his braces. "I was thinking we could literally just throw this together at my place? My parents are in Palm Springs for the weekend."

Maya's brain short-circuited. ETHAN'S HOUSE. ALONE. WITH ETHAN.

"Yeah! Totally!" she squeaked, voice cracking spectacularly.

Classic Maya move: immediately spiral. What would she wear? Was this a friend thing or a MORE-than-friend thing? Why was there still spinach in his teeth, and was it weird that she kind of wanted to tell him?

Friday arrived in a blur of outfit changes and mental breakdowns. Ethan's house smelled like expensive candles and something citrusy. They spread out on the living room floor, surrounded by markers and poster board.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Ethan said, color-coding the social strata of Ancient Egypt.

Maya's heart launched into her throat. "Anything."

He pointed at his teeth. "How long has this spinach been here?"

Maya burst out laughing. Relief washed over her like cool water. "Since lunch, Ethan. Since lunch."

"OH MY GOD." He buried his face in his hands. "You were gonna let me walk around like that all day?"

"I was being respectful!" Maya protested between giggles.

Their eyes met, and something shifted. The pyramid of social anxiety she'd built in her head collapsed. Ethan was just... Ethan. A human with spinach in his teeth who made bad puns about pharaohs and drew crooked hieroglyphics.

"Your graphic's crooked," she said, handing him a ruler.

"You're crooked," he countered, grinning.

They finished the project at midnight, fingers brushing over the poster board, spinach forgotten. Maya walked home with her palms finally, mercifully dry.

Some things, she realized, were worth climbing the pyramid for.