The Pyramid Scheme Kiss

Maya's palm was sweating against Jake's hand as they stood in line for the carnival fortune teller booth. The neon lights blurred together like a watercolor painting gone wrong. Jake kept glancing at her, and Maya's heart did that stupid fluttery thing it always did around him.

"You nervous?" Jake asked, squeezing her hand.

"Pfft. No," Maya lied, wiping her palm on her jeans. "Fortune tellers are total cap. My cousin went to one last summer and they told her she'd meet her soulmate at a grocery store. She's still single and working at Target."

Jake laughed, and Maya mentally high-fived herself. Keeping it cool, keeping it casual. That was the vibe.

When they finally reached the front, Madame Zora's tent smelled like patchouli and desperation. Her tent was covered in glow-in-the-dark stars and what looked like a pyramid of crystal balls in the corner.

"Hmm," Madame Zora said, examining Maya's palm with dramatic intensity. "Your love line is... complicated."

"Complicated how?" Jake asked before Maya could stop him.

"There's someone close," she said, wiggling her eyebrows, "but they're hiding their feelings. Like a zombie that doesn't know it's undead yet."

Maya's face burned. Jake was going to think she was into him, which she absolutely was, but he didn't need to know that. Not yet. Not when their friend group had been awkward since the homecoming incident.

Later, as they shared a plate of funnel cake, Maya noticed her friend Chloe by the ring toss booth. Chloe had been acting weird all week—distant, zombie-like during lunch, always checking her phone. And then Maya saw it: a stack of pamphlets next to the booth. Something about a "leadership opportunity" and a pyramid diagram.

"No way," Maya muttered. Jake followed her gaze.

"Is that... is that a pyramid scheme?" Jake asked.

Maya groaned. "Chloe's been posting weird stuff on Instagram too. Something about 'financial freedom at fifteen.' I thought she was just being extra."

"We should do something," Jake said, suddenly serious.

Maya looked at him—really looked at him. The way the carnival lights caught his messy brown hair. How he was already worried about Chloe even though he barely knew her. Maybe Madame Zora wasn't totally full of it.

"Yeah," Maya said, and for once, she didn't wipe her sweaty palm on her jeans. "But first... you wanna hit up the photo booth?"

Jake grinned, and Maya knew this was the start of something real. Not a fortune-teller prediction, not a pyramid scheme promise, just them—awkward, perfect, and definitely awake.