Riddles in the Dark

Maya's heart hammered against her ribs as she pushed through the crowded basement party. The air smelled like cheap body spray and stolen vodka, and someone's Bluetooth speaker was blasting that song everyone claimed was sick but actually kinda mid.

"You okay?" Liam whispered, his hand finding hers in the dim light. "You look like you're gonna barf."

"I'm good," she lied, but her voice cracked. This was it — her first real party, first time sneaking out, first time letting herself be seen with Liam outside their study sessions in the library. The social stakes felt enormous, like she was walking a tightrope over a pit of embarrassment.

Across the room, Jordan — senior class president, possible future valedictorian, and the person everyone treated like some kind of sphinx who dispensed wisdom if you could decode his cryptic texts — caught her eye. He raised his red cup in a mock salute.

"That dude gives me major creeper vibes," Liam muttered, following her gaze.

"He's not that bad," Maya said, though she privately agreed. Jordan had started messaging her weird questions lately, like he was testing her.

Someone knocked into Maya, spipping something sticky onto her new white sneakers. "Watch it!" she snapped, before realizing it was Tyler, whose reputation was basically being a human bull in a china shop of other people's boundaries.

"My bad," Tyler said, not stopping. "Chill, Maya."

She needed air. Now.

The backyard was freezing, but the cold hit her lungs like something she could actually breathe. Stars wheeled overhead, distant and indifferent.

"There you are." Jordan's voice came from behind her. "Gotta sec?"

Maya turned. "Not really, no."

"Just one question." Jordan stepped closer, his silhouette against the sliding glass door. "What has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?"

"Seriously?" Maya stared at him. "You pull me out here to riddle me like I'm some Greek mythology side quest?"

"Answer it, and I'll tell you who's been leaving those notes in your locker."

A sphinx riddle. Classic. But why?

"A human," Maya said, the answer coming from somewhere deep in the Greek mythology unit they'd finished last month. "Babies crawl, adults walk, old people use canes."

Jordan's grin was sharp. "Not bad. The notes were from me. I was gonna ask you to formal, but I see you're already with Liam. Good call. He's solid."

Maya's mind raced. The notes. The riddles. It had all been some elaborate, weird way of asking her out? Teenagers were exhausting.

"You couldn't just, like, text me?" she said, incredulous.

"Where's the drama in that?" Jordan shrugged, heading back inside. "See you around, Maya."

She stood there, cold air biting her cheeks, and realized she'd have to bear the memory of this moment forever: the night someone turned prom-posal into a sphinx-style trivia contest because actual vulnerability was too scary.

Liam found her five minutes later, holding two cups of something that definitely wasn't soda. "Everything good?"

Maya looked at his worried face and felt something steady settle in her chest. "Yeah," she said, taking his hand. "Everything's actually good."

The bass thumped from inside the house. Somewhere, a dog barked. And Maya felt like she might survive high school after all.