Riddles by the Pool

The chlorine stung my eyes as I watched Chloe by the pool edge, laughing with the new squad like they'd been besties since kindergarten. Meanwhile, I'm stuck holding her towel like a total NPC, fighting the urge to roll my eyes straight out of my head.

"Hey, loser!" Chloe called, waving me over. But her friend group gave me those skeptical once-overs that make you want to disappear. Typical.

"Whatever," I mumbled, pretending to check my phone even though I had zero notifications.

That's when Malik materialized beside me, fresh from the locker room with his swim trunks sagging just right. We'd been casual acquaintances since middle school, but today something felt different.

"Chloe being Chloe again?" Malik asked, fishing a squished protein bar from his pocket.

"You have no idea," I sighed, and suddenly we were both laughing. Malik had this way of making everything feel less serious.

The real chaos started when someone decided it would be hilarious to play Truth or Dare by the deep end. Because obviously nothing says good decision-making like peer pressure near water.

Chloe spun the bottle and it pointed straight at me.

"Truth or dare, Maya?" Her smile was pure venom disguised as friendship.

"Dare," I said before I could chicken out. What? I'm not_BASIC.

"I dare you to solve Sphinx's riddle." She pointed to Jordan, who everyone called Sphinx because they were obsessed with ancient mythology and dropped random facts like "Did you know cats were worshipped in Ancient Egypt?" during lunch.

Jordan adjusted their glasses and unleashed it: "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?"

The squad snickered. They'd clearly pre-planned this.

But I'd geeked out on Greek mythology last summer. The answer hit me instantly.

"A human," I said, meeting Chloe's dead-on gaze. "Baby crawling, adult walking, elder with a cane."

The silence that followed was absolute GOLD. Jordan actually fist-bumped me. Malik whispered, "That was savage, Maya."

Chloe's face flushed. "Whatever, Maya thinks she's so smart."

"Actually," Malik said, "she IS so smart." He slid closer to me by the pool edge. "Wanna hang after this? I found this sick hiking trail behind the rec center."

The look on Chloe's face when I said yes? ICONIC.

Sometimes the best friendships aren't the ones you're born into. Sometimes they're found by the poolside, watching someone else's drama unfold and realizing you'd rather make your own story.