Riddles by the Pool

Maya's iphone vibrated in her pocket like a nervous heartbeat. Summer pool party at Jade's house — the invite had sat in her DMs for three days before she'd finally typed "yesss!!" with way too many s's.

Now she stood at the gate, listening to the splash-fest happening beyond. Maya had perfected the art of playing spy at these things. Hover at the edges. Watch the friend groups form like cells dividing. Document everything for later overanalysis with bestie Priya.

She slipped through the gate. The pool glittered deceptively blue — same pool where last summer Connor had accidentally pantsed himself trying to impress everyone. Social suicide, tier one. The boy was basically a myth now.

"Yo, Maya! You made it!" Jade waved from the deep end, hair slicked back like a seal. "Get in here!"

"Yeah uh, maybe in a bit!" Maya called back, claiming a chaise lounge. She pulled out her phone, opening Instagram to do recon.

That's when she saw him — Leo, leaning against the patio wall, all quiet intensity in a way that made her chest feel weirdly tight. He was new this year, transferred from some private school, and moved through the halls like a fox — sleek, watchful, somehow always present but never fully known.

Their eyes caught. Maya's stomach did that embarrassing flippy thing. She looked away too fast.

"Riddles," someone said beside her.

Maya blinked. Leo had appeared, holding two sodas. "What?"

"The statue." He gestured toward Jade's backyard — her dad was weirdly into Egyptian mythology. A stone sphinx crouched by the garden wall, missing half its nose. "It's been staring at me all afternoon. I feel like it's about to ask me something impossible."

"What's the riddle?" Maya asked before she could overthink.

Leo's mouth tilted up, just a little. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a riddle anymore."

They sat there for twenty minutes while the pool chaos roared behind them — splash fights, that one song playing on repeat, someone definitely crying in the bathroom. Maya learned Leo's mom was Egyptian, that he secretly loved terrible reality TV, that he had a dog named Bacon.

"So," he said finally, "next time?"

Maya's heart was doing full gymnastics. "Next time?"

"Yeah. You know. Away from here."

"Yeah," she said, and actually smiled. "Next time."

Her phone buzzed — Priya demanding details. But Maya didn't check it. Some riddles were better left unsolved, at least for now.