The Vitamin Pyramid Scheme

Maya stared at the tangled mess of ethernet **cable** behind her gaming PC, her phone buzzing with notifications from the group chat. They were all at Jake's house, and she wasn't invited. Again.

"You need more sunshine," her mom announced, appearing in Maya's doorway with a handful of supplements. "These **vitamin** D gummies are game-changers."

Maya rolled her eyes so hard it practically hurt. "Mom, I'm fine. Just doing homework."

"You've been in your room all weekend," her mom pressed. "When I was your age, we actually hung out with people. In person."

Ouch. Truth hurt, but Maya didn't need the reminder. Lately, she'd been lowkey **spy**ing on her friends' Instagram stories, watching them live their best lives without her. Jake's birthday party. The mall trips. The study sessions that somehow turned into social events she was never part of.

Then came the weird DM from her old camp friend, Chloe: "Hey! You should check out this new thing my cousin's doing. It's like this **pyramid** structure but different? You basically recruit friends and everyone makes money??"

Maya almost laughed. A pyramid scheme? Seriously? But then she saw the screenshot Chloe sent—some "wellness empire" where girls her age were supposedly making thousands selling green smoothie powders and "cleanses."

"Hard pass," Maya typed back. "My mom already forces **spinach** smoothies on me. I'm good."

But something clicked. Maya grabbed her phone and texted the group chat—the one that was full of Jake's party pics. "Hey, wanna come over? My parents are gone and I ordered pizza."

Heart pounding, she hit send.

Three dots appeared. Then: "Bet!"

"On my way."

"FINALLY. I was dying at Jake's, his mom made us play board games."

Maya looked at the vitamin gummies on her desk, the messy cables, the Instagram stories she'd been stalking. Sometimes the real pyramid scheme was the friends' circle you had to climb back into—and you had to actually show up to do it.

She started cleaning her room. Real friends didn't need to be recruited. They just needed an invite.