The Pyramid Scheme of sophomore Year

Maya's palms were practically leaking sweat. Homecoming week. The absolute worst time to be a sophomore with exactly zero rizz and a crush on a senior who didn't know she existed.

The social pyramid at Northwood High was brutal — seniors at the top, then juniors, sophomores scraping the bottom, and freshmen somewhere in the basement. Maya had spent the first month of sophomore year trying to level up her social stats, but somehow kept rolling natural ones on every charisma check.

"You good?" Keisha asked, bouncing on her heels beside Maya. "You look like you're about to throw up."

"I'm fine," Maya lied, wiping her palms on her jeans. "Just... nervous about the assembly."

That's when the cat appeared.

A scrawny orange tabby with one ear that wouldn't stand up straight, trotting across the courtyard like it owned the place. It stopped dead in front of Maya, flopped onto its side, and exposed its belly like the absolute drama queen it was.

Maya's grandma had read palms back in Mexico — said your hands held everything you needed to know about yourself. Right now, Maya's sweaty palms were screaming awkward teenager with zero game and a potentially fatal crush situation.

But this cat? This cat had zero concept of the pyramid. This cat didn't care that Maya wasn't varsity cheerleader material or that her TikToks got twelve views on a good day.

"Yo, is that...?" A voice behind her.

Maya turned around.

Ethan. Senior. Baseball captain. The guy she'd been lowkey stalking on Instagram since August. He was crouching down, reaching toward the cat with a grin that made something in her chest do a full gymnastics routine.

"This cat's been hanging around school all week," Ethan said, scratching behind its ears. "My friends and I call him Cheeto."

"Cheeto," Maya repeated, and somehow the name came out normal instead of like she was choking on her own spit.

"You want to pet him?" Ethan looked up, and for the first time, he actually saw her. Not like a sophomore. Not like some awkward girl in the courtyard. Like a person.

The cat chose that moment to stand up, trot over to Maya, and headbutt her shin like they'd been best friends for years.

"He likes you," Ethan said, and something about the way he said it made her palms feel different — not sweaty anymore, but warm. "You're Maya, right? You're in Mr. Harrison's English with my sister."

She nodded. Her vocabulary had apparently abandoned her completely.

"Cool." He stood up. "Hey, some of us are going to the skatepark after the assembly. You should come."

The pyramid hadn't changed. Sophomores were still sophomores and seniors still sat at the top. But maybe, just maybe, she'd stopped caring so much about which level she occupied.

"Yeah," Maya said, and her voice didn't even shake. "I'll be there."