The Pyramid Scheme of Us

Maya's iPhone buzzed with another Instagram notification—her third ex-friend unfollowing her this week. The social pyramid of sophomore year had shifted again, and somehow she'd tumbled from the third tier to basically nowhere.

"You're staring at it again," said Leo, dropping onto the bench beside her. His golden retriever, Buster, flopped between them, tail thwacking Maya's leg with cheerful indifference.

"I'm not staring," Maya lied, shoving her phone deep into her pocket. "I'm conducting research on how the human soul can dissolve in under three seconds."

Leo laughed. "Dramatic. But seriously, you care too much about what people think."

"Says the guy whose dog basically runs his life."

"Buster is a lifestyle icon." Leo scratched behind the retriever's ears. "You know what you need? You need to stop looking at everyone else's palm and start reading your own."

"That's not how palm reading works, genius."

"I mean you're always comparing your behind-the-scenes to everyone else's highlight reel. It's a losing game." He stood up. "Come on. I found something behind the old community center."

Maya followed him and Buster through the overgrown lot behind the rec center, past the playground where they'd hung out in middle school. Leo stopped at a clearing where someone had built a strange pyramid out of old bicycle wheels, street signs, and what looked like half a Volkswagen Beetle.

"It's the junk pyramid," Leo said proudly. "Kids have been adding to it for years. Each layer represents something they're letting go of."

Maya studied it. "That's actually kinda beautiful."

"Your turn." Leo handed her a rusted bike wheel. "What are you leaving behind?"

Maya thought about Instagram, about the social pyramid she'd been trying to climb, about caring what people who barely knew her thought about her life. She placed the wheel on top.

"The version of me that needs validation from people who don't matter," she said.

Buster barked like he approved. Maya's phone stayed in her pocket, and for the first time in months, she didn't feel the urge to check it. Some pyramids were worth climbing out of, not into.