Orange Hair, Sphinx Stares

Maya stared at her reflection, fingers tangled in the mess she'd made. The box said "sunset orange," but her hair looked more like a traffic cone explosion. She had three hours before Lily's party—her first party since moving to this town, since the Incident back home that nobody talked about anymore.

"You look like a pumpkin threw up on you," said her younger brother, leaning against the doorframe with that smirk that made her want to scream.

"Shut up, Leo." Maya yanked a hoodie over her head, but the orange was still visible at her temples. Brilliant.

Their sphinx cat, Cleo, wound around Maya's ankles, purring like a malfunctioning engine. Cleo was hairless and ancient, with wrinkled skin that made her look like a tiny, judgmental alien. Maya had rescued her from a shelter last year—another thing that made her weird at this school.

"Just bear with it," Maya muttered to herself, grabbing her phone. Three notifications. Lily asking if she was coming. Some random follow request. And—her stomach did that thing—a text from HIM.

Zach.

The reason she'd even bothered with the orange hair disaster in the first place.

The party was already loud when she arrived. Maya tugged her hood lower, but someone pulled it back.

"No hiding," said Lily, grinning. "Oh my god, I LOVE it. It's so... you."

Maya blinked. "You think?"

"Girl, it's giving main character energy." Lily gestured dramatically. "Zach's by the snacks. Just saying."

Her heart did that fluttery thing again. She made her way across the room, past people she didn't know, past the sphinx statue on someone's inherited mantelpiece that seemed to watch her judgmentally, just like Cleo.

Zach turned. His eyes widened.

"Maya?"

"Yeah, I, uh—experimental phase?" She winced.

He laughed, and it was genuine. "No, I mean—it's cool. Really. I was gonna say you look like you're not afraid to be noticed."

Maya felt something shift inside her. The orange hair suddenly felt less like a mistake and more like armor.

"Well," she said, a smile tugging at her mouth, "I guess we're both making questionable choices tonight. I see you wearing that shirt."

Zach looked down at his Hawaiian print. "Touché." He held out a cup. "Orange soda to match?"

Maya laughed—really laughed—for the first time in months. The sphinx at home would definitely approve of this riddle solved: sometimes the worst decisions turn out to be exactly what you needed.