Spinach Pyramid Lit

Marcus's house party was supposed to be legendary. His parents were gone for the weekend, the playlist was fuego, and somehow Maya—the sophomore he'd been lowkey crushing on for months—actually showed up. Everything was going fine until his brilliant idea to make "fancy" snacks hit a wall.

"Bro, why are there whole leaves of spinach on the nachos?" Tyler asked, poking at what Marcus had confidently called "gourmet topping."

"It's texture, Tyler. You wouldn't understand. It's... elevated."

"Elevated like what? This spinach pyramid you built in the center?" Kai snorted, grabbing a handful of chips and knocking over Marcus's carefully arranged creation. "What even is this aesthetic?"

Before Marcus could defend his culinary vision, his little sister came bursting into the kitchen, tears streaming down her face. "Marcus! Bubbles died! I think it was the lightning storm!"

The whole room went silent. Outside, thunder cracked so loud it shook the windows.

"Wait, your goldfish got struck by lightning?" Maya asked, her eyes wide. "Through the window?"

"No, she thinks the stress from the storm killed him," Marcus explained, trying to salvage his dignity while holding a plate of sad, spinach-covered nachos. "He was old anyway. R.I.P. Bubbles."

But then Kai started laughing. "Bro, are you seriously serving spinach nachos at your first rager while giving a eulogy for a goldfish named Bubbles? This is officially the most unhinged party I've ever been to."

Maya was giggling too, but not in a mean way. She actually helped him clean up the spinach disaster, and they ended up talking in the kitchen for an hour while the party raged on in the living room. The nachos were a flop, Bubbles was definitely dead, and his little sister cried until midnight. But somehow, standing in the kitchen with Maya while lightning flashed outside, Marcus felt like maybe the night wasn't a total disaster after all.

"Next time," Maya said, "maybe stick to regular nachos. And maybe don't let your sister bring the fish bowl downstairs."

"Deal."