The Pyramid Scheme

Maya's **hat** sat low on her forehead, shielding her eyes from the fluorescent classroom lights. First day at Northwood High, and she was already **running** five minutes late to third period. The halls were a maze of lockers and too-loud laughter, everyone moving with confident purpose while she felt like a background character in someone else's movie.

"Hey, new girl!"

Maya jumped. A guy with messy dark hair and an easy grin was waving at her from the open door of what looked like a gaming club room. "You're Maya, right? Mr. Harrison said you might join our esports team. We need a support main."

Inside, she froze. Three guys were clustered around monitors, while a girl with bright **orange** streaks in her hair sat in the corner, organizing a tangled mess of equipment. The **cable** situation was dire—snaking across the floor like electronic spaghetti, threatening to trip anyone who wasn't watching where they stepped.

"I... I play support," Maya managed.

"Sweet!" Orange-streak girl spun around in her chair. "I'm Riley. This chaos"—she gestured at the tech pile—"is our battlefield setup. We're ranked Bronze, which sounds impressive until you learn there's literally nothing below Bronze."

The guys introduced themselves as Jace and Tyler, and within five minutes, Maya was somehow helping build a snack **pyramid** from granola bars and energy drinks while they debated strategy. Jace kept making terrible jokes about getting "gold-rushed," and Tyler snorted energy drink out his nose.

It wasn't like Maya had imagined high school would be—lonely lunch tables and intimidating popularity contests. Here, in this room that smelled like Mountain Dew and victory, nobody seemed to care that she was the new girl. They just wanted to know if she could land a heal.

Riley passed her a controller. "Show us what you got, new girl."

Maya's hands stopped shaking. This she knew.

Game on.