Riddle Me This

Maya was running late, again. Her stupid alarm had gone off at 6 AM like it was supposed to, but she'd smashed snooze until 6:47, giving herself exactly twelve minutes to get ready for first period. The junior class elections were today, and she was somehow on the ballot against her will.

"You're running for secretary?" her mom had asked over toast yesterday morning. "Since when?"

"Since Tiffany signed me up as a joke," Maya had muttered, scraping avocado so hard she'd almost punctured the bread.

Now here she was, sprinting down the hallway with her backpack thumping against her spine like a second,stupider heartbeat. She burst into homeroom, chest heaving, and there it was on the whiteboard in Tiffany's perfect loopy handwriting: MAYA FOR SECRETARY (lol).

The whole room went quiet. Then someone snickered. Maya felt that specific kind of burning where your face becomes a solar flare and your social life officially ends.

At lunch, she sat with her goldfish crackers and spiraling thoughts, watching from a distance as Tiffany held court at the popular table. That girl really was like a sphinx—all mysterious smiles and impossible riddles. How did someone radiate that much effortless cool?

Then she saw it: Tiffany's dog, that ridiculously fluffy golden doodle she brought everywhere in her purse, had somehow escaped. It was charging toward Maya, tongue out, tail wagging like it had just won the lottery.

"Cookie! No!" Tiffany shrieked, actually panicked.

But the dog jumped into Maya's lap, and Maya—without thinking—started petting her. Cookie immediately rolled over, exposing her belly like the traitor she was.

"She never does that," Tiffany said, appearing beside Maya, breathless. "She hates everyone."

"I grew up with three dogs," Maya said, scratching Cookie behind the ears. "They speak to me."

Tiffany looked at Maya like she was seeing her for the first time. "You're not weird."

"Thanks?"

"No, I mean—everyone says you're quiet, but you're actually just... chill." Tiffany sat down. "Why haven't we talked before?"

Maya thought about it. "Because you're terrifying?"

Tiffany laughed, and it wasn't her perfect popular-girl laugh. It was real. "Fair. But if you win today—and you probably will, because people feel bad about the joke sign—I need a secretary who actually knows what she's doing. My GPA is not great."

"I'm not winning," Maya said.

"You will," Tiffany said confidently. "Cookie doesn't lie. She knows people."

And that was the riddle solved, wasn't it? The sphinx wasn't a puzzle to be solved. She was just waiting for someone real enough to see her.