Pyramid Schemes and Social Dreams

The cafeteria pyramid was real, and Maya was stuck somewhere in the middle—too visible to be invisible, too invisible to matter. She sat picking at her lunch, conscious of the way the popular girls' table glittered like a trapped constellation at the peak of the social hierarchy.

"Did you hear?" whispered Chloe, sliding into the seat across from her. "Someone posted it."

Maya's stomach dropped. She pulled out her iPhone, hands shaking, and opened Instagram. There it was: her at the baseball game yesterday, mouth wide open cheering for Josh—with a massive, fluorescent chunk of spinach wedged between her front teeth. The caption read: *she really committed to the team spirit 💀*

"That has, like, two hundred likes," Chloe said sympathetically. "But hey, at least you're trending?"

Maya's face burned. She'd been crushing on Josh since September, and the one time he'd finally noticed her at the baseball game—actually smiled and waved at her—this happened. The universe had a twisted sense of humor.

"I'm never leaving my house again," Maya muttered, reaching for her bag.

"Wait." Chloe pointed. "Josh is coming over."

Josh from baseball, with his perfect hair and jersey that still smelled like sunshine and dirt, approached their table. Maya gripped her iPhone so hard her knuckles turned white. He was going to mention it. He was going to laugh.

"Hey," he said, standing next to her. "I, uh, I saw the post."

Maya closed her eyes. "I'm so humiliated."

"No, wait—" Josh actually looked nervous. "I was going to say, I think it's kind of... cool? Like, you don't care about looking perfect. You're just there, cheering your heart out. Most people are too worried about their image to be real like that."

He slid into the empty seat beside her. "So, uh, do you like baseball? Or were you just there for the snacks?"

Maya opened her eyes. Josh was grinning at her, and for the first time, the pyramid didn't feel so steep. Maybe there was more to life than climbing it.

"Baseball's okay," she said, a smile tugging at her mouth. "But I'm mostly there for the drama."

"Same." Josh laughed. "Same."