Poolside Sphinx

The hat was a mistake. That was the first thought that crossed Maya's mind as she stood at the edge of Jasmine's pool party, her vintage fedora feeling painfully out of place among the crop tops and swim caps. Someone snickered behind her, and she resisted the urge to adjust it again.

"Nice hat," said Chloe, Jasmine's best friend, with an expression that clearly meant the opposite. "Very...Detective Conan."

Maya's fingers tightened around her phone. She'd spent forty minutes perfecting her eyeliner, convinced that this party would be different—that this time, she'd finally be part of the group instead of the girl who sat three rows away in AP History.

"Hey," said a voice beside her. She turned to find Devon, the quiet guy from her art class, holding a plate with what looked like chunks of bright orange fruit. "Want some? It's papaya."

"Papaya? At a pool party?"

"My mom's obsessed with 'exotic nutrition,'" Devon shrugged, popping a piece into his mouth. "She force-packed me with 'brain food' before I came. Said it would help with the sphinx riddle in English tomorrow."

Maya actually laughed, and something in Devon's face softened. He had nice eyes, she realized—not that she'd ever noticed before.

"The sphinx riddle?" Maya asked. "That's easy. 'What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?'"

"Man. I knew that," Devon groaned. "I just blanked during the test review."

"It's a metaphor," she said, then immediately felt pretentious. But Devon didn't roll his eyes.

"You're good at metaphors," he said. "Like, your hat. It's a statement, right? Against... whatever this is." He gestured at the swimming pool filled with people doing cannonballs and chicken fights.

Maya looked at her reflection in the sliding glass door. The hat wasn't a mistake—it was armor. "Yeah," she said quietly. "Something like that."

"You know," Devon said, "Jasmine's been trying to get me to swim for an hour. I keep telling her I forgot my trunks, but truth is, I'm terrible at it. Like, sink-to-the-bottom terrible."

Maya blinked. The perfect Devon, with his easy smile and papaya stories?

"You're scared?"

"Terrified." He looked at her then, really looked at her. "But I'm guessing you're not wearing a hat because you're hot."

Her heart did something stupid and fluttery. "I don't want anyone to see my scar," she heard herself say. "From the surgery last year."

Devon didn't ask what surgery. Didn't ask to see it. Just said, "My uncle says the sphinx's riddle is really about change. About how we're all becoming different versions of ourselves. The legs thing? That's just details."

Maya took off her hat. The scar above her left ear, faint and silvery, caught the afternoon light.

Devon smiled. "Cool."

She waited for him to make her put it back on. Waited for the joke, the awkward look away.

Instead, he offered her a piece of papaya. "Brain food," he said. "In case we decide to solve the rest of life's riddles together."

"The riddles never end, do they?" Maya asked, tasting something sweet and strange on her tongue.

"Nope." Devon kicked off his flip-flops. "But at least we don't have to solve them alone."