Riddles by the Pool

The pool shimmered like liquid diamonds in the July heat, but Maya felt like she was drowning in social awkwardness. She hovered near the snack bar, clutching her red solo cup like a lifeline, while the popular clique splashed and laughed in the shallow end.

"You're not gonna swim?" Jake asked, appearing beside her. He was wearing those stupid patterned swim trunks that somehow looked good on him, and water droplets glistened on his shoulders.

"Maybe later," Maya managed, her voice doing that weird crackly thing. "My cousin's having a padel tournament next weekend and I'm trying to avoid injury."

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you play padel?"

Since never. But her phone's cable was plugged into the portable charger in her pocket, and she'd spent the previous night researching every obscure sport to sound interesting around him. Pathetic? Absolutely.

Suddenly, Chloe, the queen bee of Northwood High, marched toward them carrying something wrapped in a beach towel. "Alright, everyone! My mom bought this legit sphinx statue in Egypt, and we're doing prophecies by the deep end."

Maya blinked. A sphinx. At a pool party. Only Chloe could make ancient Egyptian artifacts seem like party favors.

"The sphinx speaks in riddles," Chloe announced dramatically, placing the stone statue on a table. "Ask it something, and if you can't solve the riddle, you have to jump in the pool fully clothed."

Jake nudged Maya. "Your turn."

Before she could protest, Chloe thrust the statue toward her. Maya's palms started sweating—like, actual dripping sweat—and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind: "Does Jake actually like me?"

The entire pool area went silent. Even the water seemed to stop moving.

Maya wanted to dissolve into molecular particles. But then Jake grinned, that crooked thing that made her stomach do backflips, and extended his palm toward her.

"If the sphinx won't answer," he said, "maybe I will."

And as Maya's friends started chanting "JUMP IN! JUMP IN!" and Jake laced his fingers through hers, she realized sometimes the best answers aren't riddles at all. They were right here, poolside and perfect and absolutely terrifying.