Riddle of the Sphinx (Sort Of)

Maya's iPhone buzzed for the third time in as many minutes. Ignore, ignore, ignore. But when the screen lit up with *r u gonna come to jason's party??* from literally the last person she wanted to think about, she nearly melted into the linoleum.

"Ms. Chen? You with us?"

Maya blinked. Mr. Harrison was staring at her from the front of the museum's Egypt exhibit. Behind him, a stone sphinx stared blankly, its human face cracked in half, like maybe even ancient monuments got tired of being awkward sometimes.

"Sorry. Just... thinking."

"About the riddle?" He smiled. "The sphinx asked Oedipus: what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?"

*Me,* Maya thought. *I crawl out of bed like a sloth, drag myself through school somehow, and then limp home carrying thirty pounds of emotional baggage.*

But what she said was: "A person."

The girl beside her—Kayla, who somehow made a museum field trip look like a fashion shoot—snorted. "Everyone knows that one."

*Yeah, well everyone knows you're trying to impress Jason, and everyone knows he's not into you,* Maya thought viciously, then felt bad immediately. Kayla was just confident. Maya was just... Maya.

Outside, the sky chose that moment to crack open. Lightning splintered through the skylight, turning everything briefly electric. Rain started hammering down like it had personal beef with the building.

"Great," someone muttered. "Bus is gonna be late."

Maya's stomach rumbled. She'd skipped breakfast again because she'd spent forty-five minutes deciding between outfits and somehow still ended up looking like a potato in a vintage t-shirt. Rooting through her backpack, she found a slightly bruised orange she'd grabbed from the kitchen counter.

"Want half?" she whispered to Kayla, because her mom raised her right even if her social anxiety wanted her to die.

Kayla looked surprised. Then actually smiled. Not the fake one from earlier. "Yeah. Thanks."

They sat on the floor by the sphinx exhibit, peeling orange sections while rain pounded the skylights. Maya's iphone stayed dark. For once.

"I hate these things," Kayla said, gesturing at the sphinx. "All these riddles and tests. Like, why can't you just go through life without proving you're smart enough first?"

Maya laughed before she could stop herself. "Right? Like, can't I just exist without having to answer questions about how many legs I'm walking on?"

Kayla's eyes widened slightly. "That's... actually really funny."

"I have moments."

"You're cool, Maya," Kayla said, and it sounded real. "We should hang at Jason's thing. If you're going."

The orange in Maya's hand suddenly felt like something else. Not a breakfast she'd forgotten to eat. Like. A possibility.

"Maybe," she said, and for the first time all day, she didn't feel like lying. "Maybe I will."

Her iPhone buzzed again, but this time Maya didn't check it. Some riddles didn't need answers right away.