Pool Party Prophecy

The lightning had been flashing all afternoon, but that wasn't why my palms were sweating. It was Emma Martinez's pool party, and somehow I'd ended up in the deep end without really knowing how I got there.

"You gonna swim or just stand there looking like a human sphinx?" Marcus called from the edge, holding a red solo cup like it was the holy grail. Everyone laughed.

A sphinx. Great. Because being mysteriously silent wasn't already my whole personality. I'd been crushing on Emma since seventh grade, and tonight was supposed to be my night to finally say something. Anything. Instead I was treading water in someone else's pool while kids I'd known forever acted like I was a riddle they couldn't bother solving.

Then something weird happened. Emma's cousin Leo showed up late, carrying a deck of tarot cards like it was totally normal. He sat on the pool edge, rolled up his jeans, and stuck his feet in the water. "Who wants their future told?"

Marcus pushed me toward him. "Yo, Sphinx boy needs his prophecy."

Before I could protest, Leo grabbed my hand, palm up, and studied it like I was a map to buried treasure. "You're scared of something," Leo said quietly, serious all of a sudden. "But you think nobody notices."

The lightning chose that moment to crack across the sky, illuminating everything. Emma looked over. For real looked over.

"Also," Leo added, smirking, "you're gonna make your move in approximately three seconds."

"What?"

"Emma. She's been waiting all summer for you to say hello. She literally asked me if you were coming."

My brain short-circuited. All that time thinking I was invisible, thinking I was the riddle nobody wanted to solve.

I swam to the edge where Emma stood. "Hey," I said. My voice didn't even crack.

"Finally," she said, and smiled like I'd just handed her the world.

Marcus rolled his eyes. "About damn time, Sphinx."

Sometimes the prophecies you find aren't in the cards or the stars. Sometimes they're just your friends being annoying because they've known what you needed all along. And sometimes you've got to stop treating your feelings like riddles and just say them out loud.