Pyramids in the Orange Grove

The **running** trail circled the old **orange** grove behind the school, the one place where Jordan could escape the cafeteria's invisible social **pyramid**. At the top sat the seniors with their perfect Instagram lives and inherited confidence. At the bottom? That would be Jordan, the new transfer who'd already managed to trip in AP Bio and accidentally call the history teacher "Mom."

Their palms were sweating—literally. Jordan had started noticing this lately, how anxiety made their **palm**s feel like they'd been gripping a cold soda can too long. Great. Another thing to overthink while trying to become a Real Person.

The trail was Jordan's sanctuary though, where headphones drowned out the mental noise and **running** became something spiritual. Today's playlist was on point, and the October sunset painted the sky in impossible shades of tangerine and coral. Those same oranges hung heavy on the gnarled trees, some fallen and splitting open in the grass, smelling like sweetness and rot at the same time.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Jordan slowed, turning to see Maya from AP English jogging over, breathing hard but smiling. Weird. Maya sat comfortably in the pyramid's upper tier—lacrosse team, vintage leather jacket, effortlessly cool people who barely acknowledged Jordan's existence.

"You're fast," Maya said, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "I've been trying to catch up to you all week."

"You've been... what?"

"Trying to talk to you. You're always gone before I can." Maya laughed, a little awkwardly. "Sorry, that sounds creepy. I'm Maya, we have English together? I sit behind you, I always borrow your pens."

The pyramid in Jordan's head trembled. "I... I didn't think you knew my name."

"Of course I do." Maya gestured at the grove. "This is my favorite spot. I come here when the cafeteria gets too loud. You know how it is."

Something cracked open in Jordan's chest like one of those fallen oranges, suddenly whole. The pyramid wasn't some immutable law of physics—it was just a bunch of scared people pretending to know what they were doing. Even the cool ones.

"Want to finish the loop together?" Jordan asked, and for the first time all semester, their palms were dry.