The Human Pyramid Incident

The chlorine smell hit me before I even saw the pool. Maya's End-of-Summer Bash. The invite said "casual" but that was a lie—everyone knew this was a battlefield.

I stood there in my Target one-piece while girls strutted around in bikini sets that cost more than my entire wardrobe. My phone buzzed in my pocket—my lifeline, my shield. I pulled out my iphone and pretended to be absorbed in something crucial. Classic avoidance move.

"Chloe! You made it!" Maya materialized, dripping wet and somehow flawless. "We're doing a human pyramid for the 'gram. You in?"

The social hierarchy at Kennedy High was basically a pyramid already, and I was somewhere in the basement. But Maya was smiling like she actually meant it, not like she was setting me up for a fail.

"Sure," I heard myself say. My brain was screaming what the actual heck.

I positioned myself near the bottom because physics and also self-preservation. That's when I noticed Jayden—Jayden who I'd had a crush on since seventh grade—standing beside me in bright orange trunks that somehow worked. He caught my eye and grinned.

"Ready to hold up the entire pyramid, cliché-mean-girl-drama style?" he whispered.

"Born ready," I shot back, feeling weirdly bold.

The tower went up. Maya at the top, naturally. My legs shook. This was it, the moment I'd faceplant and become a meme forever—

"Hold it!" someone screamed. "My phone died! Who's recording?"

"Got it," Jayden said, steady as anything. "Chloe, you good?"

"I'm literally carrying the weight of our social structure right now," I gritted out.

He laughed. A real one. "You're doing amazing, by the way."

The pyramid collapsed sideways anyway. We all went down like a sloppy game of Jenga, but the thing was—everyone was laughing. Including me.

Later, Jayden found me by the snack table. "Hey, so, there's this mechanical bull at the fair next weekend..."

"Are you asking me to watch you embarrass yourself?"

"I'm asking if you want to go first. You seem like you could handle it."

I looked at my phone—one new notification. A tagged photo from Maya. The pyramid shot. I was mid-laugh, hair everywhere, looking completely uncool.

And I actually liked it.

"I'll think about it," I said, but I was already smiling. "No promises I won't show you up though."