Poolside Sphinx

Maya adjusted the baseball cap, pulling the brim lower. Chloramine hung heavy in the humid air around the neighborhood pool. This was it—THE party. Everyone who was anyone from sophomore year would be here. Including him.

Her iPhone buzzed in her pocket, but she ignored it. Probably just her mom wondering when she'd be home, or worse—some group chat she'd been muted from. Again.

"Yo, Maya!" Jake materialized beside her, hair dripping wet. "You coming in or what?"

"Maybe later," she said, though she wouldn't. Her new one-piece wasn't like the bikini-clad girls gathering around the deep end. They moved in a shimmering cluster, confident and terrifying. Like some ancient organism.

Then she saw him. Ethan stood near the fence, wearing that stupid band t-shirt he loved, his dark hair curling at the nape of his neck. He was talking animatedly with someone, gesturing. Maya's stomach did that flippy thing it always did when he was nearby.

Without thinking, she pulled her phone out and scrolled aimlessly through Instagram. Anything to look busy. Cool. Like she had places to be, people to see.

The sphinx statue in the garden gazebo watched her with painted eyes. Last week, Ethan had told her about Egyptian mythology during algebra—how the sphinx guarded sacred knowledge with riddles. He'd smiled when he said it. That smile.

Maya gripped her phone tighter. Why was being fifteen such an exercise in geometric complexity? There were angles she couldn't navigate, social equations she kept solving wrong.

"You're just going to stand there?"

She jumped. Ethan stood right there. Up close, she could see the faint dusting of freckles across his nose.

"I—" Maya pulled her hat lower, suddenly hyper-aware of everything. Her posture. Her voice. Her entire existence.

"Nice hat," he said. "You look like a sphinx guarding secrets."

Maya blinked. Her heart hammered against her ribs. "What kind of secrets?"

Ethan's eyes crinkled. "That's the riddle, isn't it?"

Behind him, Jake launched himself off the diving board with a rebel yell. Water exploded. Somewhere, someone's playlist dropped the beat to something bass-heavy and impossible to ignore.

"Tell you what," Ethan said. "I'll make you a deal. Come swim with me, and I'll tell you the answer."

Maya's hand hovered over her phone—the safety blanket, the excuse, the wall. Then she pocketed it.

"Deal."