Pyramid Schemes and Papaya Dreams

The family reunion from hell had reached peak chaos when Aunt Linda unveiled her "wellness pyramid" — literally a cardboard pyramid covered in essential oil stickers, representing her new MLM venture.

"You're not just selling products, Maya," Aunt Linda said, eyes wide with that cult-like intensity. "You're building your EMPIRE at the bottom, then working your way UP."

I choked on my papaya smoothie. Mom had decided this was the summer we'd all expand our palates, which apparently meant drinking things that tasted like soap and regret.

"I'm good," I managed, while my seven-year-old cousin Leo screamed that his carnival goldfish was doing backflips.

"Goldfish don't do backflips," I said, trying to be the responsible teenager. "Maybe he's just... energetic?"

"HE'S HAVING A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING," Aunt Linda declared. "Just like you will, Maya, when you join my team."

My phone buzzed. Ethan: *hey u coming to jordan's party tonight?*

Ethan. The guy I'd been lowkey flirting with since geometry started this semester. The guy who'd somehow never seen me in sweatpants with papaya juice on my chin, surrounded by essential oils and a dying fish.

I stared at my reflection in the goldfish bowl. The fish, named Captain Fin by Leo, floated upside down.

"He's sleeping," Leo insisted.

"Bud..." I started, but then my phone buzzed again. *??*

I couldn't **bear** it. The pressure to be cool at Jordan's party when my real life was this messy carnival of family dysfunction. The truth was, I didn't want to perform. I wanted to be here, making sure Leo didn't flush Captain Fin, helping Mom finish her papaya experiments, even enduring Aunt Linda's pyramid speeches.

*Can't tonight,* I typed back. *Family stuff. But maybe tomorrow?*

"Okay," I told Leo gently. "Let's give Captain Fin a proper burial."

We buried him under the rosebush with popsicle sticks as a grave marker. Aunt Linda tried to turn it into a metaphor about rebirth and business opportunities. Mom made more papaya smoothies. And when Ethan texted back *totally get it family first lol,* I felt lighter than I had all summer.

Some pyramids were meant to collapse. And that was okay.