Riddle of the Freshman

Leo adjusted the fedora his older brother swore would make him look "mysterious and chill" at his first high school party. The hat felt like a neon sign screaming I'M TRYING TOO HARD. Which he definitely was.

The party was at Maya's house—Maya, who'd smiled at him in third period and made his brain do that thing where it forgot how words worked. Now here he was, standing in her basement, surrounded by juniors who radiated the kind of confidence Leo wanted to bottle and sell.

"Truth or Dare," someone called out.

Leo's heart did a little backflip. This was it. His moment. He'd watched enough Netflix to know the drill.

"Truth," he said, then immediately regretted it. Truth meant talking about himself. Dare meant doing something stupid. Why had he chosen truth?

"What's your biggest fear?" Maya asked, leaning forward. Her eyes were the color of—wow, she was actually looking at him.

"Um..." Leo's mind went blank. The moment stretched. Someone coughed. The basement air suddenly felt thick and hot. And then, like the universe had personally decided to ruin his life, he felt it: the spinach from dinner, wedged in his teeth.

He'd eaten the stupid spinach artichoke dip his mom made to be "sociable" before coming here. Now it was probably decorating his smile like green confetti.

"Spaghetti," he blurted. "I mean, spiders. No, wait—"

Everyone stared.

Then Maya burst out laughing. Not mean laughing, but actual, genuine laughing. "Oh my god, your face."

Then she pointed behind him. "You're about to knock over the goldfish."

Leo spun around. The fishbowl on the counter wobbled ominously. The goldfish inside, Orange Fizzy (he remembered from when they'd partnered in bio last month), swam in panicked circles.

He steadied it with shaking hands. Crisis averted. Kind of.

"Okay, okay," someone said. "Let's switch to Sphinx riddles. My cousin sent me this ancient Egyptian thing and it's actually impossible."

They moved to the backyard where a cement sphinx statue guarded the garden pond. The riddles got progressively harder, and somehow Leo found himself actually solving them. Each correct answer made Maya smile more, and Leo started feeling maybe, just maybe, like he belonged here.

"Last one," the host announced. "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?"

"Man," Leo said without thinking. "A human. Babies crawl, adults walk, elderly people use canes."

Silence. Then applause.

Maya high-fived him. "Okay, you're officially cool."

He adjusted his fedora. Maybe his brother was right. Or maybe it didn't matter what he wore. The spinach was gone. The goldfish was safe. And for the first time since he'd walked through the door, Leo didn't feel like a freshman trying too hard.

He felt exactly where he was supposed to be.