Riddle by the Pool

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her spinach smoothie like it was some kind of ancient artifact. The green sludge was supposed to be her "brain food" according to her mom, but right now it just felt like social suicide material.

"Nice drink," said Liam from the diving board, water dripping from his hair like he'd just emerged from some mythical ocean. "Is that... swamp water?"

Maya's face burned. Everyone at the party seemed so effortless, so unburdened by weird packed lunches and parents who still thought they were eight. And then there was the sphinx—this bizarre concrete statue in the corner of someone's backyard, its painted-on eyes watching them all like it knew something they didn't.

"It's spinach," Maya managed, her voice barely carrying over the splash-fest. "My mom's into... health stuff."

"That's actually kind of sick," Liam said, paddling over to the edge. "My parents try to get me to eat vegetables and I'm like, hard pass. You're just casually drinking your greens. Respect."

Maya blinked. That wasn't supposed to happen. The popular kids weren't supposed to respect the weird spinach girl.

"The sphinx approves," someone joked from the hot tub.

"What sphinx?" Maya asked, then immediately regretted it. Now she sounded uncool AND confused.

Liam laughed. "That creepy statue over there. We call it the Pool Sphinx because it's been judging us since seventh grade. Legend says if you make eye contact with it, it will ask you a riddle."

"What kind of riddle?"

"Depends. Last week it asked me why I was dating Sarah when I clearly still liked—" He stopped himself. "Anyway. Different riddles."

The water rippled around him, and Maya noticed something weird in his expression. The same thing she felt every time someone asked why she was so quiet, why she never hung out, why she always had to leave parties early.

"Maybe the sphinx should ask better riddles," she said quietly.

Liam looked up at her, really looked at her. "Yeah. Maybe it should."

She set down her spinach smoothie on the concrete edge, then suddenly jumped in.

The water swallowed her up, cool and shocking and perfect. When she surfaced, Liam was grinning.

"See," he said. "The sphinx didn't ask anything. I think that means you passed."