The Pyramid Scheme of Sophomore Year

The pyramid of our high school's social hierarchy had Zara at the apex, of course. She sat at the center table in the cafeteria like she'd been born there, which basically she had—her mom was head of the PTA and her dad owned that fancy restaurant downtown. I occupied somewhere near the base, occasionally drifting into the middle stratum when my lab partner Isaiah invited me to his table.

"You're literally going to turn into a zombie if you keep pulling all-nighters," my best friend Rumi said, sliding into the seat across from me. "And not the cool kind from The Last of Us."

"It's finals week, Rum. What do you want from me?" I rubbed my temples. "Also, why are you whispering?"

She leaned in closer. "Because I'm basically a spy now. Get this—Zara and her squad are planning something massive for prom. And somehow they found out about Isaiah's playlist app thingy."

My stomach did that thing it always did when Isaiah was mentioned—like, half excitement, half absolute terror. "What about it?"

"They want to license it. Or buy it. Or whatever rich people do with apps that actual teenagers made. But here's the thing—they don't know Isaiah made it with YOU."

I stared at her. "Okay?"

"Kai, listen to me. This is your chance. Zara's group is basically a pyramid scheme of social capital. You climb it, you get access. But you've gotta play it smart." Rumi's eyes were huge. "They're meeting Isaiah at The Bean tomorrow at 4. You should be there."

"That sounds like stalking, Rum."

"It's not stalking if you're protecting your intellectual property. Also, I dare you."

The next day, I hid behind a massive potted plant at The Bean, feeling absolutely ridiculous. I'd pretended to be studying chemistry but had mostly been nervously shaking a vanilla latte.

Then lightning flashed outside—literally. The café's windows went bright white for a split second, and the whole room gasped. Thunder shook the floorboards.

And through the commotion, I heard Zara's voice: "So, about the algorithm—"

"—which Kai helped write," Isaiah said, sounding annoyingly calm. "She's my co-founder."

"Oh." Zara's voice did something weird—got smaller, almost human. "I didn't realize. We were told—"

"Yeah, Jacob from tech club told you he built it. He lies about stuff like that." Isaiah's chair scraped. "But if you're actually interested in the app, you should talk to Kai directly. She's the one who coded most of it anyway."

I stood up, plant crashing sideways behind me.

The entire café turned to look.

Zara's eyes met mine. For a second, I waited for the mockery, the pyramid to come crashing down on my head. Instead, she just smiled—really smiled, like, with actual teeth.

"We heard you guys built something cool," she said. "Wanna sit?"

And that's how I learned that pyramids aren't always what they seem, spies don't always have to hide, zombies are just tired people who haven't found their thing yet, and sometimes—just sometimes—lightning doesn't strike. It just sits down across from you at a café table and orders an iced coffee.