Goldfish in the Deep End

The pool party glowed with those fake underwater lights that made everyone look like they were drowning in blue. Maya stood by the snack table, nursing a Solo cup of spinach dip because apparently being sixteen meant pretending vegetables constituted a meal.

"You're like a goldfish," her best friend Keisha announced, appearing behind her. "Three-second memory, forget you exist every time someone hot walks by."

Maya rolled her eyes. "The bull? Really?"

"The BULL," Keisha corrected. "Connor. In the horned headgear. He's been doing shots of Mountain Dew in the kitchen since seven."

Across the pool, Connor — currently sporting an inflatable bull costume because senior humor was apparently that advanced — caught Maya's eye. He waved, nearly tipped over into the water.

But Maya's attention kept drifting to the sphinx.

Not literally. That was just what everyone called Nick — tall, unreadable, perpetually shirtless by the pool edge like he'd been sculpted from marble and confusion. He'd transferred in three weeks ago and given approximately seven words to anyone not named Connor.

"He's looking at you," Keisha sang.

"He's looking through me. There's a difference."

"Take the shot, Maya. What's the worst that happens? He says no and you die of embarrassment? You already have spinach in your teeth."

Maya bolted for the bathroom.

When she returned, Nick was by the snack table, examining the spinach dip with clinical fascination. He looked up, and for someone supposedly sphinx-like, his eyes were unexpectedly readable.

"Does this actually taste good?" he asked.

"No," Maya said. "It tastes like health."

Nick's mouth quirked. "Bold assessment from someone who's clearly eaten half of it."

She stopped cold. He'd noticed.

"I'm Nick, by the way. Sphinx status is just chronic awkwardness."

"Maya. And goldfish memory is just chronic anxiety."

"Cool," he said. "Wanna watch Connor try to do a keg stand with root beer?"

In the deep end, under the fake blue lights, Connor bellowed something unintelligible and flopped spectacularly sideways. Nick laughed, and Maya thought maybe high school wouldn't be endless.

Sometimes the riddles weren't riddles at all. Sometimes a sphinx was just a guy who liked spinach dip. Sometimes you were the goldfish who finally decided to remember something worth keeping.