Riddles on the Court

Maya stared at the sphinx statue in the school courtyard—a weird art installation that everyone called "the riddle bitch" behind its back. Its painted-on eyes seemed to mock her phone addiction. Her iPhone buzzed in her pocket AGAIN.

"wanna hang at the courts?" - Leo

Her stomach did that embarrassing flutter thing. Leo. The Leo who'd barely acknowledged her existence since seventh grade, now suddenly sliding into her DMs like it was nothing. She typed back "sure!!" with two exclamation marks (cringe, but necessary) and immediately regretted it.

Her dad's voice echoed from the kitchen: "Maya! Spinach smoothie time!"

The stuff looked like pond water and tasted like regret. "Dad, I'm going to the padel courts with Leo."

"Leo who?"

"Leo from English."

Her dad's eyebrows went up. "The one you've been 'lowkey stalking' on Instagram?"

"I was NOT stalking—"

"Your face was on his page for twenty minutes yesterday, sweetie."

She grabbed her keys and fled.

The padel courts buzzed with after-school energy. Leo was already there, hitting a ball against the wall with this focused intensity that made her knees weak. He spotted her and grinned—that same devastating smile from his profile picture.

"Finally decided to show up, huh?"

"My dad was forcing spinach down my throat."

"You and me both." He gestured to his own green-stained teeth. "My mom's going through this 'I will not raise a child with scurvy' phase."

She laughed. A real one, not her fake polite laugh.

They played padel—terribly. Maya missed almost every shot, but Leo didn't seem to care. He kept making these ridiculous jokes, doing silly celebrations when either of them actually hit the ball.

"You know," he said during a water break, "there's this rumor about the sphinx in the courtyard."

Maya's heart sped up. Was this it? Some deep conversation? A bonding moment?

"Yeah?"

"If you can make it through a whole week without checking your phone during school, it grants you one wish."

She blinked. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"I know, right?" His grin widened. "Wanna try it with me?"

The sphinx's painted eyes didn't seem so mocking anymore.

"Challenge accepted," she said, ignoring three consecutive notifications.

Her phone could wait. This—that rush, that possibility, that boy grinning at her like she was someone worth knowing—this was real.