The Social Pyramid Scheme

Maya's palms were literally sweating through her phone case as she refreshed Instagram for the third time in two minutes. She was basically a professional social media spy at this point, stalking Jordan's story to see if he'd posted anything about the party tonight.

"You're down bad, Maya," her best friend Chloe said from where she was sprawled across Maya's bed, painting her nails orange—which was a choice, honestly.

"Shut up, I'm just gathering intel." Maya put her phone face down on her desk. "It's called being prepared. Unlike some people who show up to everything looking like a confused avocado."

The school social hierarchy operated like a pyramid scheme, and Maya had invested exactly zero dollars into it. At the base: everyone trying too hard. Middle tier: people who didn't care but somehow ended up cool anyway. The apex: Jordan and his friends, who didn't even have to try and still looked effortless.

Tonight's party was different though. Jordan had actually invited her. Well, he'd invited 'everyone from physics' which technically included her, but she was choosing to interpret it as destiny.

"What if I say something weird?" Maya groaned into her pillow. "What if I try to be chill and instead I just stand there like a palm tree in a hurricane?"

"First off, palm trees are built to withstand hurricanes, so that's actually a compliment," Chloe said, clicking her phone. "Second, you're overthinking this. Just be normal. Well, your version of normal."

Maya's version of normal involved quoting Vine references nobody remembered and laughing at inappropriate moments. She was a whole mood waiting to happen.

Her phone buzzed. Jordan had posted a new story—a blurry photo of some orange sodas arranged in a pyramid on a kitchen counter. The caption: 'party setup come thru'

"OH MY GOD," Maya practically shouted. "He's literally thinking about me."

"He posted a picture of soda, Maya."

"But it's ORANGE soda. I told him last week that it's superior to all other sodas. He remembered. This is it. This is the moment."

"You're delusional and I love it." Chloe sat up. "Okay, spy mission: tonight you're gonna talk to him about his soda pyramid. You're gonna vibe check the situation. And you're NOT going to say anything about how you bookmarked his Spotify playlist. We talked about this."

"I was CURATING. There's a difference."

"There's really not."

Maya grabbed her backpack and checked her reflection one more time. Her hair was doing that thing where it looked good from the left but questionable from the right. Whatever. If Jordan couldn't handle the multi-angle versatility, that was on him.

Tonight, she was either going to climb to the top of the social pyramid or accidentally knock over all the orange sodas trying to get there. Either way, it was gonna be a whole experience.