The Sugar Cube Pyramid

Marcus stood outside the cafeteria, his palms sweating against his history display board. Inside, the social **pyramid** of sophomore year was in full effect - popular kids at the apex, everyone else scattered below.

He'd spent three weeks on this project about Ancient Egypt, building a tiny model pyramid from sugar cubes. But the real stress was Maya - Maya, who sat two rows ahead in English, who smelled like coconut shampoo, who'd actually asked him about his project yesterday.

His sister had insisted he take her **vitamin** gummies "for brain power," which was obviously fake but he'd choked them down anyway. Not that it stopped his stomach from doing backflips.

The doors swung open and Jason - who was basically the **bull** in every china shop metaphor - clapped Marcus on the shoulder so hard he almost dropped his display.

"Yo Marcus, ready for history fest? My Egypt presentation's gonna annihilate." Jason grinned. "I bet yours is... cute though."

Cute. The word landed like a surprise pop quiz he hadn't studied for.

Marcus spotted Maya at a table near the window. She had this way of tilting her head when she found something genuinely funny, and something about it made his chest feel weirdly tight.

He set up his project next to hers, which was about traditional medicine across cultures. She had little samples of different foods - including **papaya**, which she explained could help with digestion.

"My grandma swears by it," she said, meeting his eyes. "What about you?"

"Pyramids," Marcus said, then wanted to disappear. The title was literally "PYRAMIDS" in giant letters. "I mean, obviously, but like - the engineering. The mathematics."

"That's actually really interesting," Maya said, looking at him like she meant it. "Can you show me?"

So he did, and somewhere between explaining burial chambers and the fact that the Great Pyramid was built with insane precision, he forgot to be nervous. Forgot about Jason three displays over, forgot about the social pyramid, forgot about everything except Maya nodding and asking questions like he was actually saying something worth hearing.

Later, when Mr. Henderson announced that Marcus and Maya would both move on to regionals and Jason definitely wouldn't, Maya caught his eye and smiled. Not her polite smile - the real one.

"You coming to Jason's party tonight?" she asked at lunch.

"Actually," Marcus said, his phone in hand, "do you want to maybe get boba instead?"

"Yes," she said immediately. "Absolutely."

As he added her number, his hands weren't shaking at all.