Riddles in the Spinach Dip

Maya stared at the mirror, her hair doing that weird flip thing it always did when she was nervous. Tonight was the Spring Fling, and she'd actually worked up the courage to ask Leo to dance. Her best friend Kai sat cross-legged on her bed, idly braiding sections of his own hair while watching her meltdown.

"You look fine, Maya. Better than fine. You look like you could destroy the patriarchy and still have time for the afterparty," Kai said, deadpan.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one whose stomach feels like it's doing gymnastics." She gestured at her phone. "I've been refreshing his Instagram story every thirty seconds like some sort of digital sphinx guarding my feelings with impossible riddles."

"First off, weird metaphor. Second, he literally asked you first. Remember? At lunch yesterday? While you were pretending to be fascinated by that wilted spinach they served?"

Maya groaned. The spinach incident. She'd been so distracted by Leo's proximity that she'd accidentally eaten the decorative garnish instead of her actual food. Leo had laughed—but like, actually laughed, not mean laughed. Still.

"That's different. Online, he can't see my face turning the color of that terrible spinach artichoke dip they make."

"The cable connection's been down since noon anyway. No WiFi for the party." Kai stood up and grabbed her phone. "You're going. We're going. Leo's going to be lucky if you even show up, because honestly? You're kind of a big deal."

"Since when am I a big deal?"

"Since you literally memorized all the Sphinx riddles for English class last week and helped everyone pass their quiz. You're smart, Maya. You're funny when you stop overthinking everything. And Leo? He's been staring at you in math since September. I'm surprised he hasn't spontaneously combusted from tension."

Maya cracked a smile. "That's a lot of combustion for third period algebra."

"Exactly. Now come on. We have a party to crash."