The Pyramid Scheme of Us

Maya stared at her iphone screen, watching the likes trickle in like a slow drip of dopamine. The post had been up for twenty minutes and only twelve people cared.

"You're overthinking it again," said Jordan, sliding into the cafeteria booth beside her. He was wearing that stupid dad cap — the hat with the mesh back and the frayed brim that he refused to throw away despite Maya threatening to burn it three times this semester.

"It's the Instagram Pyramid," Maya sighed, gesturing to her phone. "You know how it works. You tag five friends, they tag five friends, everyone follows everyone at the bottom of the pyramid, and by the time you reach the top, you're basically internet royalty. But you have to START at the bottom."

Jordan snorted. "So it's a pyramid scheme but for followers? And we're in high school?"

"It's not a SCHEME if it actually works," Maya protested, though she heard how ridiculous it sounded. "Chloe did it last month and now she has three thousand followers. People actually know who she is. She got invited to Tyler's party on Friday."

"The one where everyone stands around pretending to have fun while posting stories about how much fun they're having?" Jordan pushed his hat back. "Pass."

That was Jordan. Always too chill to care, too authentic to try. Maya envied him sometimes. They'd been friends since seventh grade, back before high school turned into some elaborate social experiment where everyone was constantly judging everyone else's worth based on basically nothing.

Her phone buzzed. A notification from Chloe: *ur turn! tag 5 ppl or the pyramid breaks 😤*

Maya's thumb hovered over the screen. She could tag Jordan. She could tag four other people who'd definitely participate because they were desperate enough to climb the pyramid too. Within a week, she'd have hundreds of new followers. People would start noticing her in the hallways. Maybe Tyler would finally learn her name without her having to awkwardly introduce herself for the third time.

She looked at Jordan, who was now eating the apple slices off her tray because he forgot his lunch again. He didn't care about the pyramid. He never had. He still watched cartoons on Saturday mornings and wore shirts from middle school and didn't know or care what Chloe's follower count was.

"What?" Jordan said around a mouthful of apple. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing." Maya locked her phone. "Hey, want to come over later? We can watch that documentary about ancient Egypt you've been talking about since September."

Jordan's eyes lit up. "The one about how they built the pyramids? FINALLY?"

"Yeah," Maya smiled. "The REAL pyramids. Not this fake internet stuff."

She slid her phone across the table, face down. Let the pyramid break. Let someone else climb it. She had better things to do.