Riddle at the Pool Edge

Maya's orange hair was already frizzing in the humidity, and she'd been at Tyler's pool party for exactly seven minutes. This was fine. Everything was fine. She clutched her phone like a lifeline, the charging cable still tangled around her wrist from where she'd yanked it off her bedside table in a panic.

"Yo, Maya! You gonna stand there all day or actually get in?" Tyler called from the water, droplets sparkling on his shoulders like he was some kind of domesticated merman.

"Working up to it!" Maya lied smoothly, though her voice cracked. Classic.

She'd spent two hours last night practicing her casual laugh in the mirror. Now she was pretty sure it sounded like a dying seal.

The real problem wasn't the pool. It was the riddle. Last week, Maya's crush Jake had texted her: "You're like a sphinx or something—all mysterious." She'd spent forty-five minutes googling whether this was a compliment or if he was calling her difficult. The verdict was unclear, but now she felt weirdly obligated to maintain some kind of enigmatic aura.

Which was hard when you were fully focused on not tripping over your own flip-flops.

"Hey." Jake appeared beside her, holding out a drink. "You want this? My mom bought way too much orange soda."

Maya's brain short-circuited. "Thanks. Cool. Awesome."

What was WRONG with her?

Jake's hair was wet, dark curls plastering to his forehead. He looked annoyingly good, while Maya was ninety percent sure her mascara was already migrating toward her chin.

"So," he said, leaning against the patio railing. "You gonna tell me your answer?"

"My... what?"

"To my question." He grinned. "From Instagram DM. Friday?"

Maya had not seen this message. She had thirty unread DMs because she was a coward.

"Oh, THAT," she said, committing to the bit. "I'm... thinking."

"Take your time, sphinx." He bumped her shoulder with his. "No rush."

His phone buzzed. "Crap, my cable's dead. Can I borrow your charger?"

"Yeah, sure." Maya rooted through her bag, heart doing this weird fluttery thing that was definitely concerning from a medical standpoint.

Maybe this sphinx thing wasn't so bad. Maybe being mysterious just meant everyone else was confusing too.

"Jake! Chicken fight!" Tyler yelled from the pool.

"Coming!" Jake grabbed Maya's hand. "You're on my team, sphinx. Let's destroy them."

Maya let herself be pulled toward the water, orange soda forgotten on the table. She still didn't know what the Instagram question was. She still felt awkward and weird and probably had mascara everywhere.

But Jake's hand was warm in hers, and for right now, that was enough.