The Goldfish Pyramid Scheme

Maya's third attempt at fitting in at Northwood High started with an iPhone she'd begged her mom for three months to upgrade. Now it sat on her cafeteria table like a golden ticket—except instead of chocolate factory tours, it granted access to the group chat where everyone was apparently planning something huge for homecoming week.

"You coming tonight?" Riley asked, sliding into the seat across from her. Maya had been crushing on Riley since September, when they'd been lab partners and she'd accidentally called a mitochondria a "mito-kinda."

"Tonight?" Maya stalled, surreptitiously checking the group chat. Her phone was at 12%, and she'd forgotten her charging cable at home. Classic Maya move.

"The Sphinx meeting," Riley said, like it was obvious. "For the homecoming pyramid construction committee."

Maya blinked. "The what now?"

"The Sphinx." Riley pointed at the school's mascot—a weirdly aggressive-looking Egyptian statue that roared "KNIGHT POWER!" at pep rallies. "Student government meets there every Thursday to plan the homecoming pyramid build. It's kind of a big deal."

Maya's stomach did that awful flip-flop thing it always did when she realized she was missing something obvious. "Oh. Yeah. Totally. I was just... testing you."

Riley laughed, and Maya felt herself relaxing. Maybe she could still pull this off. Maybe she could be the kind of person who joined committees and built pyramids and didn't have panic attacks about forgetting charging cables.

"Cool," Riley said. "We're also looking for people to host the goldfish race. You know, for the carnival?"

"The goldfish what now?"

"Goldfish race. We put them in those mini lanes, they swim toward food at the end. It's actually chaotic as hell." Riley's phone pinged. "Anyway, I gotta run to practice. You coming tonight?"

"Yeah," Maya heard herself say. "I'll be there."

Riley fist-bumped her and headed out. Maya sat there for a minute, letting it sink in: she was going to build a pyramid with her crush and race goldfish and maybe, just maybe, finally figure out how to be the person she wanted to be.

Her phone died two minutes later. But for once, Maya didn't even care.