Riddle Me This

Maya stared at the English classroom poster—the Great Sphinx of Giza stared back, stone lips sealed with eternal secrets. Mr. Henderson droned on about riddles and metaphors while Maya's mind drifted to lunch period and whether she'd sit alone again.

"Your assignment," Henderson announced, "partner up. Create your own sphinx riddle. Best one wins extra credit."

Maya's stomach did that thing it always did when social interaction became inevitable. She caught Jordan's eye across the room—the cute one with the messy curls who always somehow sat two desks away, never closer, never farther. He mouthed "wanna pair up?" and Maya felt herself nodding before her brain could process the embarrassment potential.

They ended up at her locker afterward, which was basically the worst possible location. Her locker housed her deepest shame: an ancient journey to the bottom of the ocean, she'd insisted.

"Um, that's a cat," Jordan said, pointing to her keychain.

"His name is Catman," Maya said, then instantly wanted to die. "My little sister named him. I was six, okay?"

Jordan laughed. It was nice. Not mean-nice, but actually nice. "Catman. Respect. I had a goldfish named Shark once. I thought if I believed hard enough, he'd grow teeth."

"Did he?"

"No. He just kept swimming in circles and judging me with those fishy eyes."

They worked on their riddle at her kitchen table. Her little sister splashed in the pool outside, yelling something about dying of dehydration immediately after refusing to come inside for water. Maya's mom offered snacks approximately every twelve seconds.

"What if the riddle's about how weird high school is?" Jordan suggested. "Like, what has four legs in freshman year, two in sophomore year, and three in senior year?"

"That's just the original sphinx riddle but worse." Maya smiled despite herself. "What about... what speaks without a mouth, hears without ears, and everyone follows but no one sees?"

"Gossip," Jordan said instantly.

Maya laughed.

They submitted their riddle the next day: "I have a heart but no blood, I can run but have no legs. Some say I'm the answer to everything, but really I'm just asking. What am I?"

A question.

They won extra credit. Jordan walked her to her locker afterward.

"Catman approves," he said, then did this tiny salute thing that made Maya's stomach flutter in a completely different way than before.

"Shut up," she said, but she was grinning.

The sphinx had kept her secrets for millennia. Maya figured she could keep this one for at least a day. Maybe two.