Sphinx by the Shallow End

Leo's palms were sweating so bad he thought he might literally drip onto the concrete. Not exactly the vibe you want when you're about to talk to the girl you've been crushing on since seventh grade.

"Yo, you good?" Marcus asked, bumping his shoulder. "You look like you're about to pass a kidney stone."

"I'm fine," Leo lied, wiping his hands on his swim trunks. The fabric was already damp from pool water and anxiety.

The Castillo's pool party was in full swing — music bumping, people doing cannonballs off the diving board, someone's little brother crying because he dropped his popsicle. Normal stuff. Except for the giant stone sphinx statue that Maya's weird art mom had installed by the shallow end last month.

"Just go talk to her," Marcus said, like it was that simple. "She's literally sitting there alone."

Maya was indeed perched on the edge of the pool, her legs in the water, looking unreasonably good in a purple bikini. Leo had been swimming in circles for twenty minutes trying to work up the courage.

"What do I even say?" Leo groaned.

"I dunno, ask her about the sphinx. It's weird as hell. Everyone's talking about it."

And that's how Leo found himself walking toward Maya, heart pounding, feeling like the biggest idiot alive. She looked up as he approached, and he almost turned around.

"Hey," he said. Smooth.

"Hey." She smiled, and okay, that was definitely a win. "You've been doing laps for, like, twenty minutes. You training for the Olympics or something?"

"Nah, just avoiding social interaction." The words slipped out before he could stop them.

Maya laughed. It was a good laugh. "Big mood. The sphinx is better company than most people here."

Leo blinked. "You talk to it?"

"Sometimes."

He sat down next to her, letting his feet dangle in the cool water. The sphinx stared at them both with its stone face, dead silent.

"So," Leo said, suddenly emboldened. "If this thing could ask us riddles, what would it ask?"

Maya thought about it. "Probably something about why we're both sitting here alone instead of, like, actually talking to each other."

Their eyes met. The music seemed to get quieter.

"Yeah," Leo said. "That would be a pretty easy riddle to solve."

He put his hand on the concrete between them, palm up. An invitation. Maya didn't make him wait — she placed her hand in his, and his palms finally stopped sweating.

The sphinx said nothing, but somehow, it felt like it approved.