Sphinx Cat Confidential

Maya's sphinx cat, Cleo, looked like an alien. A wrinkly, naked alien that needed sweaters in winter. But right now, Cleo was her accomplice.

"Operation Crimson Crush is a go," Maya whispered, giving Cleo a treat. The hairless cat blinked her enormous eyes and continued staring at the window like she understood the mission.

The mission: spy on the new neighbor, the one with the crimson hair who'd moved in last week. The one who'd sat behind Maya in homeroom and smelled like vanilla and conspiracy theories.

Maya had spotted him on Instagram—@void-walker_99, username so edgy it practically screamed I'm Reading Nietzsche But Only The Quotes. His bio: "truth seeker. aspiring cryptid. probably in your walls." So random it hit different.

Now Cleo sat in the windowsill, looking exceptionally suspicious. Because sphinx cats looked weird on purpose, no one questioned why Maya kept taking photos of the window. She was just "documenting her cat's therapeutic journey." She'd even posted three already with the caption: "my judgmental queen knows all your secrets 💅✨"

Comments rolled in. bestie_jules: Omg she's so iconic! sour_girl: Those wrinkles give major villain energy lol.

Behind the curtain, Maya peered through her phone camera. Crimson Hair Boy was in his driveway. He was—get this—taking photos of trees. With an actual camera, not his phone. Who even did that anymore?

Then he looked up. Right at her window.

Maya ducked, knocking over Cleo's treat jar. The sphinx cat shrieked like a dying kettle and bolted, her wrinkly little body slip-sliding across the hardwood floor.

Her phone buzzed. A DM request.

@void-walker_99: your cat just faceplanted. i have it on video.

Maya stared. Then: @void-walker_99: also, sphinx cats are based. my cousin has one named gizmo.

She hovered over Accept. This was it. The crossover event no one saw coming. The spy operation had been compromised by her own cat's coordination failure.

Cool cool cool.

She typed back: blackmailer 😑 but also thanks for not posting my cat's fail online

His response came instantly: got a price. show me your tree photography skills and i delete the evidence

Maya grinned at her ceiling. Cleo purred loudly, utterly pleased with herself for allegedly engineering this whole thing. This sphinx cat wasn't just weird—she was a tactical genius.

Or Maya was just down astronomically bad. Either way, tomorrow's walk to school was about to get interesting.