Sphinx at the Deep End

The inflatable **pyramid** bobbed in the center of the pool like a confused landmark, completely out of place in suburban Wisconsin. Maya adjusted her bucket **hat** lower, hoping it would somehow make her invisible at her cousin's graduation party.

"Maya! Get in here!" Jessica called, doing an impressive backflip off the diving board. Maya's stomach did its own uncomfortable flip. **Swimming** in her clothes had been easier than this — showing up to a party where she knew exactly three people and two of them were relatives.

She clutched her **iPhone** like a lifeline, thumb hovering over Instagram. Just five more minutes of scrolling and she could plausible claim something "urgent" had come up.

"You gonna stand there all day or what?" A guy her age climbed out of the pool, water dripping from his messy dark hair. He nodded toward the massive plastic **sphinx** guarding the snack table. "That thing's been staring at me for an hour. I think it's judging my cannonball form."

Maya blinked. Was he... talking to her? "The sphinx has high standards," she heard herself say. "Riddle you wrong, you get eaten. That's ancient Egyptian college admissions, basically."

He laughed — actually laughed, not the polite teen fake-laugh she'd mastered. "I'm Leo. Jessica's friend from debate."

"Maya. Cousin from... existing awkwardly?"

"Nah, you're doing fine." He leaned against the pool edge. "My first party here? I sat in a lawn chair for forty-five minutes before anyone talked to me. The sphinx was my only friend."

The tension in Maya's chest loosened. Maybe that was the thing about parties — everyone was pretending they weren't terrified. Even Leo, with his easy grin and water-beaded skin, had been That Kid Once.

"So," he said, "you ever gonna put down the phone and help me raid the cooler before the graduation cake gets annihilated?"

Maya looked at her phone, then at the ridiculous sphinx, then at Leo's extended hand.

"Yeah," she said, sliding the phone into her pocket. "Yeah, I think I will."

The pyramid continued its lonely rotation, but Maya didn't need hiding places anymore.