The Pyramid Scheme

Maya stared at her reflection, ready to cry. Her hair, supposedly styled for homecoming, looked like she'd stuck her finger in an electrical socket. The expensive stylist had promised "beachy waves." Instead, she got electrocuted poodle.

"Girl, you good?" Sasha burst in, carrying an actual pyramid of hair products—sprays, gels, creams stacked five layers high. "I gotchu. My cousin does hair. We gonna fix this."

"Your cousin who tried to sell us that cable TV package last month?"

"Different cousin. This one actually knows what she's doing."

Maya's mom poked her head in. "Sweetie, dad's old fedora hat is in the closet if you need it. Vintage is in right now."

"MOM. No."

"Just offering!" Her mom disappeared, but not before Maya caught her grinning.

Two hours later, Sasha had somehow transformed Maya's hair into something that looked intentional. "See? I told you. The pyramid never fails."

"The pyramid of products you nearly knocked over three times?"

"Details."

Maya studied herself in the mirror. For the first time in forever, she felt... pretty. Not just acceptable, but actually pretty. The kind of pretty that got noticed in hallways, that made people turn their heads.

Then her phone buzzed. Tyler, her date, canceling. "Something came up. Sorry."

The pretty feeling vanished like smoke. Maya grabbed the old fedora from her closet. "Whatever. I'm not going."

Sasha looked at her, dead serious. "Yes you are. We're going together. And we're gonna look fire."

"But—"

"No buts. Tyler's loss. Besides, everyone's gonna be there. Lucas definitely wants to see you."

Maya's stomach did that stupid flip-flop thing it always did when someone mentioned Lucas. "He does not."

"Girl, please. He literally asked where you were gonna be sitting today at lunch. And he doesn't even eat lunch on campus."

Maya stared at herself again. Maybe tonight wasn't about Tyler. Maybe it was about something else entirely.

She tossed the fedora back in the closet.

"Let's go."