The Dog Who Crashed the Pyramid

The social pyramid at Lincoln High was as real as the cafeteria's mystery meat, and Maya was somewhere near the bottom—ground level, with the ants. Which was exactly why she currently stood at the edge of Chloe's pool party, palms sweating so much she might as well have jumped in the pool fully clothed.

Across the yard, the popular crew—pyramid tip dwellers—lounged on actual lounge chairs like they owned them. Tyler, Chloe's golden retriever, had already jumped into the water three times, shaking himself off directly beneath the social elite's throne area. Maya's grandmother would have called that karma. Maya just called it terrifying.

"You going in or what?"

Maya jumped. It was Leo, the weird quiet kid from her art class who always drew bull skulls in his sketchbook. He was already waist-deep in the water, dripping wet and somehow not self-conscious about it at all.

"I'm thinking about it," Maya lied.

"Bull." He splashed water at her. "You've been thinking about it for twenty minutes. I've been counting."

Maya's face burned. The dog chose that moment to escape from the house, barreling toward the pool like a fuzzy bullet, and launched himself into a perfect cannonball—right next to the Pyramid's chosen ones.

Chloe screamed. The popular boys scrambled. The entire social hierarchy upended itself as water sprayed everywhere, drenching the carefully styled hair and the pyramid itself collapsed into wet chaos.

Maya and Leo looked at each other. Then they looked at the dog, paddling happily like he'd just accomplished something magnificent.

"He just took down the entire social structure," Maya whispered.

Leo grinned. "He's been planning this all year. I can feel it."

Maya looked at the chaos, the laughter bubbling up from her chest before she could stop it. She looked at the water, and suddenly it didn't seem so scary anymore.

"Race you to the deep end," she said, and jumped in before she could overthink it.

The dog barked. Maya surfaced, sopping wet and happier than she'd been all year. Whatever happened Monday at school, at least tonight she'd learned this: sometimes the whole pyramid could come down with just enough chaos and one really good dog.