Pool Party Riddle

Maya stood at the edge of the pool party like she'd accidentally wandered onto another planet. The music thumped, people splashed in the water, and somewhere someone was yelling "CANNONBALL!" before a massive splash. Maya gripped her towel like a lifeline.

"You gonna stand there all night or actually jump in?"

She jumped and turned to find Alex leaning against the fence, that fox-like grin on his face that made her stomach do backflips. The guy she'd been crushing on since September.

"I'm... assessing the situation," Maya said, trying to sound casual and failing.

"The situation is water, Maya. It's not that deep." He winked. "Literally. It's four feet at most."

Before she could reply, her best friend Ryder came running over, dripping wet. "YO! Maya! They're doing sphinx riddles by the snacks. First person to solve three gets the last strawberry soda."

"Sphinx what?" Alex asked.

"Sphinx riddles, genius. Like the mythical sphinx that asked people riddles before letting them pass? Jordan's been watching too much Percy Jackson."

Maya hesitated. She'd barely spoken to Jordan's friend group all year. They were the popular kids, the ones who moved through the hallways like they owned the place. Maya existed on the edges, watching, never quite part of it.

"Go," Alex said, gently nudging her shoulder. "I'll cover you."

"What?"

"If you get stuck, I'll help. Team effort."

They walked over to where a circle had formed. Jordan stood in the middle like she was holding court. "Okay, next riddle: I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I?"

Maya's mind went blank. The pressure of everyone watching, Alex standing beside her, the humidity thick in the summer air—

"An echo," Alex said calmly. "The answer is an echo."

"Correct!" Jordan pointed at Maya. "Your turn."

Two riddles later, Maya stood clutching the strawberry soda like a trophy she'd won in battle. Alex high-fived her, and for a second, their hands touched. Electricity zipped through her veins.

"So," he said, "you up for actually getting in the pool? Or are you gonna stand there all night being dry?"

Maya looked at the water—churning with bodies, shimmering with pool lights, alive with laughter. Then she looked at Alex, who was waiting for her answer like it actually mattered.

She dropped her towel on a chair. "Last one in's a rotten egg."

Maya ran and jumped, the cool water swallowing her whole, and somewhere between the surface and the bottom, she decided maybe this planet wasn't so scary after all.