Pyramid Schemes and Bad Haircuts

The pyramid wasn't in Egypt. It was on my iPhone screen, glowing at 2 AM—a viral TikTok challenge where you had to stack random objects into a perfect pyramid while your friends filmed you failing. "It's literally so easy," Jenna had texted me three times. "Everyone's doing it. If you don't, you're basically dead."

I was already dead. My hair, specifically, which I'd dyed midnight blue at 11 PM using a kit I bought with my babysitting money. It was supposed to be electric. It was supposed to say, "I'm mysterious and artistic and maybe in a band." Instead, it looked like a smurf had exploded on my head. I'd been staring at myself in the bathroom mirror for an hour, hyperventilating.

Running on three hours of sleep and pure panic, I grabbed my water bottle from my nightstand and chugged it like it was the elixir of life. My phone buzzed again—Jenna, naturally. "You're coming to the park right? The whole squad's gonna be there. Don't be lame."

The park. Where our friend group's social pyramid would be on full display. Jenna and her minions at the top, me somewhere in the middle, and poor Tyler at the bottom because he still wore Crocs unironically.

I showed up with my hoodie pulled low, clutching my phone like it could teleport me out of there. The pyramid challenge was already happening—people were stacking books, energy drinks, each other. Jenna spotted me immediately. "OMG, Maya's here!" she shrieked. "And her hair—"

I braced myself. Here it came. The roast. The screenshots that would live in our group chat forever.

"—is actually so cool?" Jenna finished. She grabbed my arm. "Okay, who did your color? It's giving main character energy."

I blinked. My phone buzzed in my hand—three new messages from random people asking about my hair. The pyramid of social hierarchy I'd been terrified of wasn't actually a pyramid at all. It was just us, a bunch of insecure teenagers running around in circles, desperate to be seen.

"Did it myself," I said, pulling my hood down. "Wanna film me failing at the challenge or what?"

Jenna laughed, and for the first time all morning, I actually felt like I might survive high school after all.