Riddles at the Finish Line

Maya's legs burned as she rounded the track, running her third lap while everyone else had already finished. Her iphone sat on the bleachers, probably blowing up with texts about Taylor's party tonight—the one she'd promised to go to but honestly wasn't feeling. Social battery dead at 4 PM on a Tuesday. Peak introvert hours.

She grabbed her water bottle, chugging the warm liquid like it was the elixir of life. Coach Miller had started them all on these weird vitamin supplements, swearing they'd help with endurance. Maya had pretended to swallow hers for a week before just flushing them. The placebo effect was real, but so was her stubbornness.

"You're still here?"

Maya jumped. It was Alex—that quiet guy from AP English who sat in the back and always looked like he was solving riddles in his head. He was sitting cross-legged by the old sphinx statue that some rich alum had donated to the school years ago. The thing was genuinely creepy, stone eyes watching everyone fail at gym class.

"Could ask you the same thing," Maya said, wiping sweat from her forehead.

Alex shrugged. "I like it when it's empty. Too many people during the day."

"Same," Maya said, then immediately felt uncool. Who says "same" out loud anymore?

But Alex just nodded. "The sphinx asks better questions anyway."

Maya laughed. "Does it now?"

"What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?" Alex's voice dropped, like he was sharing a secret.

"Man. That's the original riddle."

"Yeah, but what if the answer's wrong?" Alex looked at the statue. "What if it's not about aging? What if it's about... something else?"

Maya sat beside him in the grass. "Like what?"

"Like how we're all running from something. Or toward something." He pulled out his own phone, cracked screen and all. "Taylor's gonna be pissed if we don't show."

Maya's stomach did that thing. "You're going?"

"Was gonna skip. But maybe..." Alex looked at her. "If you're going, I mean, I could go."

"I hate parties, though."

"Me too. We could suffer together?"

The sphinx seemed to smile, just a little. Maya realized she'd been running in circles on the track, but sometimes circles lead exactly where you need to go.

"Deal," she said. "But we're leaving by nine."

"Eight-thirty."

"You drive a hard bargain, mystery boy."

Alex grinned, and for the first time all week, Maya didn't feel like running anymore.