Riddle at the Pool Party

Maya's palms were sweating. Again. She wiped them on her denim shorts for the third time, staring at the door of Jordan's house where muffled bass thumped like a second heartbeat. This was it—her first real high school party. No parents, no rules, just seventy juniors and seniors she'd been going to school with for three years but barely knew.

She ran her fingers through her hair, checking it in her phone camera. The curling iron had betrayed her halfway, leaving the ends weirdly straight while the roots frizzed like she'd stuck a fork in an electrical socket. Whatever. It would have to do.

Inside, the air smelled like chlorine and cheap body spray. People crowded around the pool, doing exactly what Maya feared most: looking cool and effortless while she felt like a fraud.

"Hey, you're in Mr. Henderson's mythology class, right?"

Maya turned to find Chloe—track team star, hair somehow perfect despite the humidity—holding a red Solo cup.

"Yeah," Maya managed. "That test today was brutal."

"Right?" Chloe laughed, pulling something from her pocket. "My mom gave me these vitamin B shots for stress, but honestly I think they just make me jittery." She shook a tiny bottle. "Want one?"

"Sure, why not." What did she have to lose?

They ended up on the patio with a group playing some guessing game. Some guy named Marcus was explaining the riddle of the Sphinx to everyone's fake-drunken amusement.

"'What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?'" He looked around dramatically. "Come on, you guys learned this in sixth grade."

Maya knew the answer. Obviously. But she also knew that saying it out loud would make her look like the kind of person who paid attention in sixth grade.

Then she caught Chloe's eye. Chloe, who'd invited her into the circle. Chloe, who'd offered her a vitamin supplement like they were already friends.

"A human," Maya said. "Crawling, walking, and then with a cane."

Marcus stared. Then grinned. "Finally! Someone who actually listened in school."

Chloe bumped Maya's shoulder with hers. "Nerd club, you and me."

Maya looked down at her hands. Her palms weren't sweating anymore.

Later, as the party wound down and girls jumped into the pool with their clothes on, Maya checked her reflection in the darkened patio door. Her hair was a mess, her makeup had migrated somewhere south, and she'd probably have chlorine-smelling clothes tomorrow.

But Chloe had put her number in Maya's phone, and for the first time since moving here, Maya didn't feel like the new girl. She felt like someone who belonged.