Poolside Sphinx and Party Zombies

My palms were sweating so bad I could've filled a water bottle. First high school party, and I was basically a zombie — exhausted from finals week, awkward as hell, and existing on nothing but vitamin C supplements and hope.

The seniors' backyard glowed with string lights around the pool. Palm trees swayed like they were vibing to the bass-heavy music everyone pretended to know the lyrics to. I grabbed a cup of water because apparently that's what normal people did when they were terrified.

Then I saw him.

Leo. The sphinx of junior year.

He sat on the pool edge, legs dangling in the water, looking like some beautiful riddle I couldn't solve. We'd shared that one math class where he caught me staring at his hands during presentations.

Water rippled around his calves. He turned and spotted me.

I freeze-framed.

He waved.

Seriously.

I managed not to spill my water as I stumbled over. "Hey," I said, because my brain had officially clocked out.

"Hey." His voice was like, actual velvet. "You're the one who draws on everything, right?"

My face burned hotter than summer asphalt. "That's me. Professional notebook vandal."

He laughed, and it was this actual sound, not the fake Instagram laugh everyone else did. "I saw your sphinx doodle during Mr. Henderson's rant about quadratic equations. It was honestly better than his lecture."

I couldn't tell if he was being real or if this was some elaborate social experiment. But then he splashed water at me, and I splashed back, and suddenly I wasn't a zombie anymore. I was just some girl in oversized clothes with wet sneakers, talking to the most confusing person at school.

"You're not like the others," he said, and it didn't sound like a line.

"Thank you?" I said. "I think?"

He stood up, water dripping down his legs. "No, seriously. Most people here? Total zombies. But you're... real."

My phone buzzed. Mom. Probably reminding me about my vitamins or something equally mom-like. But I ignored it because Leo was looking at me like I was actually worth noticing.

"Stay," he said. "The water's fine."

And somehow, someway, the sphinx had solved himself. The riddle wasn't him.

It was me, finally figuring out how to be okay with not knowing everything.