Sphinx in the cafeteria

Marcus pulled his beanie **hat** lower over his ears, trying to disappear into the laminate table. First day at Northwood High and he'd already managed to sit opposite the one person everyone warned him about: Lena, who wore the same black combat boots every day and allegedly once told a teacher to "check their privilege" in front of the whole class.

"You're in my seat," she said, not looking up from her sketchbook.

"Oh, sorry, I—" Marcus started, grabbing his tray.

"I'm kidding. Sit." She finally looked at him. "You're new, right? You have that lost puppy vibe."

Marcus laughed nervously. "Is it that obvious?"

"You're wearing a **hat** indoors. Nobody does that unless they're hiding or they think they're in a music video." Lena flipped her sketchbook around. On the page, a creature lounged against what looked like Northwood's lockers—a **sphinx** with ripped jeans and a vape pen. "What do you think?"

"Whoa. That's... actually really good."

"It's for the mural contest. Everyone's doing oceans and sunsets and motivational quotes. Boring. I figured if I'm gonna waste my weekend painting a wall, at least make it weird."

"Why a sphinx though?"

"Ancient **sphinx** asked riddles, destroyed you if you couldn't solve them." Lena gestured around the cafeteria. "High school is basically the same thing, except instead of riddles, it's weird social codes nobody explains until you mess them up. Wear the wrong shoes, sit at the wrong table, like the wrong music—boom, social death."

Marcus nodded, pushing his **spinach** around his plate. "Yeah. I still don't get the lunch system. Why are there three different lines?"

"Line one is pizza, line two is everything else, line three is salads. But the salad line is faster, so people who don't want to wait pretend they're into **spinach**." She pointed at his tray. "You're not eating it."

"I'm trying to be healthy?"

"You're trying too hard." Lena grabbed her bag. "Come on."

"Where?"

"I need reference photos for the **sphinx**. And you need to stop sitting alone in the cafeteria like you're practicing for a coming-of-age movie montage."

Marcus grinned. "What if I said yes?"

"Then I'd say finally. Come on, new kid. Let's get you un-lost."

He followed her out, hat still pulled low, but for the first time all day, he didn't feel like hiding.