The Last Pyramid of Summer

Maya stood by the edge of the **water**, nursing her lukewarm soda and wondering why she'd let Chloe convince her that Egyptian Night at the community pool was going to be "literally iconic." The inflatable **pyramid** floating in the deep end had already deflated into a sad, lopsided triangle, and someone had knocked over the cardboard **sphinx** that was supposed to be a photo prop. Its nose was missing now.

"You look like you're plotting murder," said a voice behind her.

Maya turned to find Lucas—the guy who'd moved here last month and already had half the junior class simping for him. He was wearing those ridiculous swim trunks with palm trees that everyone had been roasting on group chat, but somehow he made them look intentional. "More like plotting my escape," she admitted.

"Smart." He leaned against the pool fence. "This whole thing is giving main character energy in the worst way."

Maya snorted. "That's one word for it."

"You know what my little sister calls cats?" Lucas said suddenly. "'Little **fox**es.' Because they're all sneaky and dramatic."

"That's... weirdly specific?"

"She's seven, everything is weirdly specific." He gestured at the deflated pyramid. "My point is, sometimes things aren't what everyone says they are. Like, everyone said this party was going to be cringe, and yeah, it kind of is. But..." He looked at her, really looked at her. "But I'm having a better time talking to you than I would be over there pretending to care about beer pong."

Maya felt herself blushing, which was embarrassing and also—she had to admit—not entirely terrible. "You're just saying that because I'm the only person not playing beer pong."

"Maybe." Lucas grinned. "Or maybe you're just more interesting than a bunch of people trying to look cool in front of each other."

The sphinx's cardboard head tipped further forward, as if in agreement. Maya laughed, and for the first time all night, she didn't feel like she was watching everything from the outside. Sometimes the worst parties turned into the best stories. Sometimes you had to talk to the weird guy with the palm tree swim trunks to realize you weren't the only one feeling like an outsider. And sometimes—just sometimes—that was exactly what you needed.