The Pyramid Scheme of Seventh Period

Maya's hair was supposed to be caramel highlights. Instead, it looked like a **cat** had chewed on it and spat it back out.

"It's not that bad," Chloe said, but her eyes said otherwise. Chloe, whose sleek bob fell perfectly around her face like she'd been born with it. Chloe, who sat at the apex of the seventh-period lunch table—the social **pyramid** that Maya had been trying to climb since September.

Maya ran her fingers through the brassy orange chunks. Her mom had said they'd save money doing it at home. Save money. Right. Now Maya had to **bear** the consequences until she could afford a salon fix, which meant basically forever with her allowance.

The lunch table went quiet as she approached. Not like, creepy quiet. Just that microscopic shift in energy, like when everyone's pretending to look at their phones but they're totally watching.

"Hey," Maya said, sliding into her usual spot on the second tier.

"New hair?" someone asked.

"Yeah. Just experimenting."

Chloe didn't even look up from her phone. But two seats down, this girl Kira who'd transferred in last month actually made eye contact and smiled. Not fake-smiled. Actually smiled.

"I like it," Kira said. "Kind of edgy."

Maya blinked. Kira wore combat boots and eyeliner sharp enough to cut glass. She sat at the bottom of the pyramid, near the overflow where people ate when the real table was full.

"Thanks," Maya said.

Something shifted. Not in the big obvious way, but small. Kira moved her tray next to Maya's. They talked about hair disasters and parents who didn't get it and how weird it was that school felt like this elaborate game everyone was playing but nobody had the instructions for.

By the end of lunch, Maya had forgotten to worry about the pyramid at all. Her hair was still orange. Her mom was still going to apologize with takeout tonight. But maybe—just maybe—she'd accidentally started climbing the wrong ladder.

Turned out some pyramids were worth escaping from.