The Pyramid Scheme Prom

Maya's palms were sweating so bad she could practically water plants with them. Which would've been useful, considering she was hiding behind the fake palm tree in the gym while her best friend Kenya attempted to salvage what was left of the sophomore class fundraiser.

"You gotta bear with me, Maya!" Kenya yelled from the stage, where she stood beside the six-foot cardboard pyramid they'd spent three weeks building for the "Walk Like an Egyptian" themed dance. "The laser lights just need a minute to—"

*CRASH.*

The pyramid tipped forward, taking the DJ table with it. Coach Miller's attempt to catch it only resulted in him sliding across the polished floor in his dress socks, straight into the refreshments table. The spiked punch bowl launched into trajectory perfection, landing directly on Principal Chen's new suit.

The entire gym went silent.

Then someone started running. Not sure where they were going, but the movement triggered like, thirty other people to start running too, and suddenly it was a full-on stampede toward the exit. Including Tyler, Maya's crush since seventh grade, who was currently sprinting away from her like she was contagious.

Maya stepped out from behind the palm tree. Her social life was officially over. Her crush was gone. The pyramid was destroyed. This was it. This was rock bottom.

"Yo, that was LEGITIMATELY the most metal thing I've ever seen," said a voice behind her. She turned to find Jayden, the quiet skater guy from her English class, filming the wreckage on his phone. "Principal Chen looks like a drowned cat. This is going viral, no joke."

She blinked. "Wait, you think this is... good?"

"Maya." He lowered his phone. "We just took the most boring school event in history and made it legendary. Tyler running away like a little baby? That's content. That's character development. Now we know who's built different."

A slow grin spread across her face. The sphinx of unanswered questions in her head suddenly had answers: Tyler wasn't the one. The fundraising committee was a pyramid scheme of stress she'd fallen for. And sometimes, when your entire social foundation collapses, you find out who's actually worth knowing.

"Wanna help me clean this up?" she asked.

Jayden shrugged. "Only if I can keep filming."