Summer Pyramid Scheme

The pool glittered like someone had dumped a truckload of glitter into the water, which honestly wouldn't have surprised me. This was Tyler's house, after all. His dad's latest 'business venture' had something to do with selling sparkly energy drinks to middle schoolers.

I stood at the edge of the patio, clutching my phone like a lifeline. Social pyramids were ruthless in tenth grade, and I was currently clinging to the bottom tier—somewhere between the kids who brought board games to lunch and the ones who loudly announced their bathroom breaks.

'Yo, Marcus!' Tyler waved from the pool, surrounded by his pyramid of popular friends. They were stacked on inflatable flamingos like some kind of bizarre social structure. 'Get in here!

My heart did that embarrassing fluttery thing. Maya was there. Maya, who had sat behind me in bio since September and whose laugh sounded like wind chimes. Maya, who I'd been planning to talk to for approximately seventy-three days.

I jumped in, resurfacing like a determined dolphin.

'Hey.' It came out more like a bubble-filled gargle. Smooth.

Maya pushed off from the side, gliding through the water with the grace of a mermaid. 'Marcus! Finally. Tyler's mom made fruit salad. There's something weird in it though.

'What kind of weird?'

'I don't know. Exotic weird.' She grinned. 'I dare you to try it.'

Four minutes later, I was staring down a papaya like it was about to attack me first. Who even ate papayas at pool parties? This felt suspiciously like a pyramid scheme recruitment event where the currency was dignity.

'The things I do for social mobility,' I muttered, and took a bite.

The texture was like squidgy sunshine. The taste—impossibly sweet, vaguely musky, intensely confusing. My face must have shown it because Maya burst out laughing, and somewhere between the absurdity of the moment and her genuine delight, something shifted.

'Your face!' She wiped tears from her eyes. 'Want to try the dragon fruit next?'

'Sure.' I swallowed. 'Why not.'

The social pyramid didn't feel so steep anymore. Sometimes you just had to dive into the weird stuff—papaya and all—to find where you actually belonged.