Riddle in the Kitchen

Maya's thumb was glued to her iPhone screen, doomscrolling through TikToks at 2 AM like a zombie hunting for brains — or at least dopamine. The house party thumped around her, but she felt more dead than alive, social battery drained to zero.

"You look like you're solving world peace," a voice said.

Maya looked up. It was Julian, the guy from AP Bio who actually laughed at her terrible puns sometimes. He was peeling an orange in the most hypnotic way, the citrus scent cutting through the cheap cologne and teenage sweat hanging in the air.

"Just trying to remember why I came," Maya said, pocketing her phone. "Social interactions are my nemesis."

"Same." Julian offered her a slice of orange. "Wanna hide in here until someone makes us do party stuff?"

"Hard pass on party stuff." She took the slice. "I'm vertically challenged in this crowd anyway."

Julian leaned against the counter, suddenly looking serious. "Okay, truth time. You know how in mythology, the sphinx asked that riddle? What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, three in the evening?"

"Yeah?"

"I feel like that's literally high school." He gestured vaguely. "We start as kids trying to figure everything out, then we're stuck in this weird middle phase where everything's awkward and dramatic and we're just trying to survive —"

"And then we become adults with canes and back problems?" Maya finished.

"Exactly." Julian laughed, and Maya felt something in her chest do a little flip that had nothing to do with the bass vibrating through the floor. "The sphinx ate you if you got it wrong, though. Pretty harsh."

"Ms. Reynolds would literally fail me if I got the riddle wrong on a test," Maya said. "Same energy."

"Touché." He grinned. "You know, you're actually cool when you're not overthinking everything."

Maya's face heated up. She blamed the kitchen lights. "I'll add that to my resume. 'Cool when not overthinking. References available upon request.'"

"Do it." Julian bumped his shoulder against hers. "Anyway, I should probably rescue my friend before she posts something she'll regret tomorrow."

"The zombie apocalypse waits for no one."

"Catch you later, Maya." He headed toward the living room, then turned back. "Hey, your phone's been buzzing. Just saying."

Maya pulled out her iPhone. Three new notifications:

Julian: that orange was actually fire

Julian: i mean the conversation was good too

Julian: ap bio partner tomorrow??

She typed back: only if you bring more citrus

The sphinx had nothing on figuring out high school. But maybe — just maybe — Maya was starting to get the riddle right.