Sphinx at Home Plate

Maya's palms were sweating so hard she could practically water the plants with them. She stood behind the dugout, watching the baseball team practice like she used to, back when her life made sense. Back before she quit the team and started questioning everything.

"You're running out of time to decide, you know," said Kai, leaning against the chain-link fence like some kind of modern-day sphinx with their riddles and impossible expectations. "College applications are due in, like, two months."

Maya rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the reminder, Captain Anxiety. You try living it up when your parents are basically planning your future like it's some fantasy league draft."

Her phone buzzed. Coach wanted to know if she was coming back to the team. Her dad wanted to know if she'd chosen a major yet. Even the universe seemed to be pressuring her – she'd seen three shooting stars this week and hadn't made a single wish because she was too scared to admit what she actually wanted.

A dog trotted past the field – some golden retriever mix that looked like it had escaped from a pet store commercial. It stopped dead in its tracks and looked at Maya, tongue out, tail wagging, absolutely living its best life without a single worry about GPAs or five-year plans.

"That dog," Maya said, pointing. "That's my spirit animal. Just vibing. No existential dread. No pressure to be extraordinary."

Kai laughed. "Bro, you're sixteen. You're allowed to not have it figured out. Even the sphinx didn't have all the answers – it just asked questions and waited for someone else to deal with them."

"Did you just reference Greek mythology to make me feel better about my life choices?"

"Egyptian, actually. And yes, I did. You're welcome." Kai grinned. "Look, maybe you don't have to decide everything right now. Maybe you can just ... exist for a minute. Try things. Fail at stuff. It's allowed."

The dog chose that moment to sprint across the field, joyfully oblivious to the fact that it was trespassing. Someone yelled "HEY!" and the whole team stopped practice to watch this creature living its most authentic life.

Maya watched it run and felt something shift in her chest. Not an answer – she still had zero clue what she was doing – but maybe that was okay. Maybe you weren't supposed to have it all figured out at sixteen. Maybe the point was to keep moving forward, even when you had no idea where you were going.

"You know what?" she said, her palms finally starting to dry. "Let's go to that arcade downtown. I'm done overthinking everything."

"Finally," Kai said. "I've been waiting for you to say that since seventh period."