Saturday Night Sphinx

Maya's palms were sweating — literally gross, but whatever. This was her first actual house party since transferring to Northwood High, and she'd spent forty-five minutes curating the perfect 'casual but not trying too hard' outfit. Now she stood on the front porch, heart doing that weird fluttery thing, while muffled bass thumped through the door like a second pulse.

Inside, the air already smelled like cheap body spray and something burning. Great. She spotted Jordan near the makeshift dance floor, arm draped around some senior whose name Maya kept forgetting. Jordan caught her eye and gave that half-wave that meant 'come over but also don't make it weird.' Classic.

Then she saw it — in the corner of the backyard, half-hidden behind a cluster of people taking selfies with those ring lights everyone suddenly owned: a literal sphinx statue. Like, an Egyptian sphinx. In suburban New Jersey. Someone had draped a neon feather boa around its neck, giving the ancient stone creature this bizarrely festive vibe.

'Same,' a voice said beside her.

Maya jumped. A guy with messy hair and an oversized hoodie stood there, holding a red cup like it was a scientific specimen he was analyzing. 'The sphinx. I'm just as confused as you are.'

'Maybe it's a metaphor,' she said, before she could filter herself. 'For high school. You know, riddles nobody understands, stone faces everyone puts on...'

He laughed, and something in her chest unknot. 'I'm Leo. And I think you just read everyone here for filth.'

'Maya. And I'm literally just stating facts.'

They ended up sitting on the back deck, ignoring the party inside. His family's cat — an actual cat, not a metaphor — kept weaving around their legs like it was personally offended by their lack of attention. Leo told her about his conspiracy theory that the school's vending machine was rigged (evidence: the Doritos always got stuck), and Maya admitted she'd watched like eight seasons of that baking show nobody talked about anymore.

Then someone tripped over the HDMI cable running from the gaming console to the TV, and the entire entertainment system went dark in the most dramatic way possible.

'YO!' someone yelled. 'Who killed the vibe?'

'My bad!' Leo called out, not sorry at all. He turned back to Maya. 'So, about that cat...'

'Midnight,' she said, like it was the most normal thing in the world. 'We should find it. You know, before someone accidentally calls animal control.'

'Running after a cat at midnight? Sounds solid.' He stood up and offered her his hand. 'You coming?'

Maya looked at her palm — still a little sweaty, but whatever. Then at Leo, who was already watching her with this halfway grin that made something flutter in her chest again, but in a good way this time.

'Yeah,' she said, and they slipped out the side door into the cool night air, leaving the sphinx to judge the party alone.