The Friday Night Pyramid

Maya's palms were sweating — like, actually dripping — as she stood in the corner of Jake's basement, clutching her red Solo cup like it was a lifeline. The social hierarchy at Lincoln High had always been a pyramid, and tonight she was attempting the climb from the bottom level to the middle.

"You good?" whispered Sam, her best friend since seventh grade, adjusting his glasses nervously.

"Yeah. Just," Maya swallowed, "remind me why I thought this was a good idea."

"Because Tyler's gonna be here, and you've been lowkey obsessed with him since bio lab started?" Sam deadpanned.

"Shut up," she hissed, but her iphone buzzed in her pocket. A text from her mom: *Don't forget spinach in the fridge for tomorrow!*

Spinach. Great. Now she was thinking about spinach while trying to look cool.

The music cut out突然. Someone had knocked loose the HDMI cable from the speaker system. The room went silent for exactly three seconds — the kind of silence that feels like an hour when you're sixteen.

"I got it," Tyler called out, jogging toward the TV. Maya's heart did that stupid flutter thing it always did when he spoke. He crouched down, reconnected the cable, and the music blasted back on. Drake, obviously. Always Drake at high school parties.

Tyler high-fived his friends and Maya noticed something green stuck in his teeth. Spinach. From the cafeteria's infamous spinach artichoke dip at lunch.

She could say something. She should say something. But then she'd be the girl who pointed out the spinach in the crush's teeth, which would make her the spinach girl forever.

Or she could say nothing and let him be the guy with the spinach in his teeth all night.

Maya's palms stopped sweating. She made her choice.

"Hey Tyler," she called, walking over. "You've got a little —" she gestured to her own teeth.

His eyes went wide. "Oh my god. For real?"

"Yeah. Since lunch." She grinned. "You're welcome."

Tyler's face burned bright red, but he was laughing. "You're a lifesaver. Seriously."

"I know," Maya said, suddenly feeling like maybe she didn't need to climb the pyramid after all. Some victories were better than status.

"Hey," Tyler said, still grinning. "You wanna get some air? Away from all this?"

Maya glanced at Sam, who was already giving her a thumbs-up.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I'd like that."