Riddle at the Pool Party

Maya's palms were sweating so much she could barely grip her phone. Tonight was Jake's pool party — THE social event of sophomore year — and she'd been crushing on him since homeroom in September.

"You ready?" asked Sam, her best friend, already dressed in a tie-dye bikini that screamed 'I don't care what anyone thinks' (even though she totally did).

"Nope," Maya admitted. "I've been avoiding Jake's texts all week. What if I say something weird? What if I can't swim in front of everyone?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "You're literally on the swim team, Maya. You've been swimming since you were five. You'll be fine."

But this wasn't about swimming laps with coaches timing her. This was about swimming in front of JAKE, who somehow made everything feel like a life-or-death situation.

The party was already hopping when they arrived. Palm trees lined the pool, their fronds swaying in the breeze like they were mocking Maya's nervousness. Jake was there, of course, running around with a Super Soaker like an overgrown golden retriever, his hair wet and messy.

Then she saw HIM — Tyler, the school bully who'd made her life miserable in seventh grade. He was cannonballing into the deep end, sending water everywhere.

"Great," Maya muttered. "Just what I needed."

But then something weird happened. Tyler climbed out of the pool and started doing something bizarre — he was posing like a sphinx, arms crossed, staring mysteriously at everyone.

"What ARE you doing?" Jake asked, cracking up.

"I'm the Sphinx," Tyler announced. "I have a riddle. Whoever solves it gets..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out five twenty-dollar bills. "A hundred bucks."

The whole party went silent. Even Maya stopped overthinking.

"Okay," Tyler said, dropping the act. "Riddle me this: What runs but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a bed but never sleeps?"

Maya's mind raced. This was from that old Greek mythology unit in English. A river. A river runs, has a mouth, has a bed...

"A RIVER!" she blurted before she could stop herself.

Tyler stared at her. Then he started clapping. "Finally! Someone who paid attention in Mr. Harrison's class."

Jake swam over to the edge of the pool, grinning up at her. "That was actually impressive, Maya. Like, really impressive."

Her palms stopped sweating. Maybe tonight wouldn't be a disaster after all.