Riddle of the Deep End

Maya was officially drowning, and not in the way her swim coach constantly yelled about. This was social drowning — the kind where your ex-best-friend is laughing with the popular girls across the pool while you're stuck doing laps like a total NPC.

"Stroke harder, Zhang! You call that swimming? That's bobbing!" Coach Miller's voice echoed across the aquatic center like bad feedback in a microphone.

Maya gritted her teeth and pushed off the wall. At least the water couldn't judge her outfit choice or remind everyone about That Incident at homecoming last semester. Under the surface, everything was blue and muffled and safe. No pyramid schemes of high school hierarchy, no sideways glances, no whispered rumors.

Just laps. Laps she could do.

After practice, the girls' swim team gathered around the whiteboard. "Escape room challenge tonight," said Chloe, the undisputed queen bee who'd somehow decided Maya was worth acknowledging this week. "Team bonding. My dad's paying."

The escape room was Egyptian-themed. Because of course it was.

"Okay, so we need to solve the sphinx's riddle to unlock the pyramid door," Chloe announced, taking charge like she'd been born in a boss battle. "Jules, you're on puzzle duty. Sierra, find the hidden compartments. Maya... you're tall, reach stuff."

Maya fought the urge to roll her eyes. Of course. She was always just the tall one, the quiet one, the filler friend.

They were stuck on the final puzzle when Maya's fingers brushed against something behind a decorative stone slab. A switch. When she pulled it, the entire room — designed to look like the inside of a pyramid — lit up with simulated lightning effects. Rain sounds thundered through hidden speakers.

"Whoa," said Sierra.

"Dude, you found it!" Jules high-fived her.

They escaped with three minutes to spare, and when they piled into Chloe's car afterwards, someone handed Maya the aux cord for the first time ever.

"What did we say about my driving playlist," Chloe said, but she was smiling in the rearview mirror.

Later that night, Maya messaged her old friend group chat — the one that had been dead since October.

"Escape rooms are actually kinda fun if you're not being totally toxic about it lol"

Read: 11:47 PM.

Read: 11:49 PM.

Maybe tomorrow at school, things would be different. Maybe they wouldn't. But for now, Maya float-treaded in her bed, feeling like she'd finally stopped holding her breath underwater.