The Day the Sphinx Stole Home

The sphinx appeared right behind home plate, right when I was up to bat with the tying run on second.

I mean, not a REAL sphinx—though at that moment, my overheated, fourteen-year-old brain refused to process the distinction.

There Kai sat in the dugout wearing MY lucky baseball cap turned backwards, laughing with HER. And there I stood, sweating through my uniform, heart hammering like I'd already struck out. Which, statistically speaking, was about to happen anyway.

"You gonna stare at the plate all day, Miller?" Coach hollered. "Or you gonna swing?"

Heat radiated off the asphalt. The July temperature hit ninety-eight, and someone's mom brought a cooler of ice water that was melting faster than we could drink it. Everything shimmered at the edges—dirt, sky, Kai, HER.

The sphinx had appeared on Mr. Henderson's lawn last week. Some lawn ornament delivery fail, we assumed. But by day three, the baseball team had developed weird superstitions around it. Tap its wing before games, don't look directly in its stone eyes, definitely DON'T mention how much it looked like our English teacher, Ms. Gable.

Now, standing at home plate, I swear I saw the sphinx blink.

"Strike three!" the umpire bellowed.

I'd never even seen the pitch.

Kai ambled over, still wearing my hat, still smiling that smile that made something twist in my stomach. He clapped a hand on my shoulder, leaving it there a second too long. "Tough break, bro."

Then I noticed—HER (Mia, I'd finally learned her name in homeroom yesterday) was laughing too. Not at me, I realized. At something Kai had said.

Something snapped. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was that Kai had my lucky hat AND the girl I'd been crushing on since seventh grade. Or maybe the lawn sphinx had finally hexed us all.

"Hey Kai," I said, voice surprisingly steady. "Can I have my hat back?"

He froze. The dugout went silent. Even the umpire looked over.

"What?"

"My hat." I held out my hand. "I need it back."

For three agonizing seconds, nobody moved. Then Kai shrugged, half-smiling, half-confused. "Yeah, sure, whatever." He handed it over.

I put it on, brim forward like I always did. Turned to Mia. "You coming to Friday's game?"

She blinked, then grinned. "Wouldn't miss it."

Walking back to the dugout, I swear I saw the sphinx wink. First time all day, I didn't feel like throwing up. The water cooler never tasted so good.