Riddle at Rachel's Pool Party

Maya's palms were sweating before she even stepped through Rachel's gate. The entire swim team would be there, plus Jason from AP English, and she'd barely survived two weeks of high school without completely embarrassing herself yet. Her older brother Amir had dropped this wisdom in the car: "Just act chill, little jedi. You got this."

The backyard was already chaos—splash fights, bass-heavy playlist, enough trendy snacks to feed a small army. Maya spotted her crush Jason by the deep end, looking annoyingly perfect in his swim trunks. She made a beeline for the snack table to avoid immediate eye contact, but someone called her name.

"Hey! You made it!" Rachel materialized, dripping wet and grinning. "Come meet my aunt's cat—she's house-sitting and brought this absolute creature."

"A cat? At a pool party?" Maya followed Rachel toward the patio furniture, where something unlike any cat she'd ever seen sat perched on a lounge chair like it owned the place. A sphinx cat—hairless, wrinkly, with enormous ears and an attitude that screamed, "I know something you don't."

"Her name's Cleopatra," Rachel explained. "My aunt says she's ancient wisdom in a cat body."

The sphinx cat stared directly at Maya with eyes that felt way too judgmental for a creature that looked like a naked mole rat's cousin. Behind her, someone screamed as a bucket of water dumped over their head. Laughter erupted. Maya's social anxiety spiked like crazy—she should've just said she was sick. This was too much: too many people, too much noise, too many ways to say something wrong.

"You look like you're solving a riddle," a voice said beside her. Jason. somehow he'd appeared, towel-drying his hair. "The sphinx cat gaze."

"She knows my secrets," Maya blurted, then immediately wanted to die. That was so weird to say.

Jason laughed, but not in a mean way. "She thinks she's profound, but really she's just waiting for treats. Rachel's aunt says she's basically a wrinkly potato who demands respect."

Maya's palms stopped sweating. "That's... disappointingly relatable."

"Most profound things are." He gestured toward the pool. "Wanna get in before someone makes you do a cannonball?"

"Only if you promise not to splash me immediately."

"No promises. I'm competitive like that." He grinned, and something inside Maya settled. Maybe high school wouldn't be completely terrible after all.