The Fox at Sunset's Party

Maya's hands wouldn't stop shaking. Why had she agreed to come to Sunset's house party? Probably because when the most popular girl in tenth grade invites you, you don't exactly say no.

She stood in the corner of the living room, nursing a flat soda, watching everyone else look like they belonged here. Like they knew the secret handshake of being sixteen.

"Hey."

Maya jumped. It was Leo—the guy she'd had a crush on since soccer camp last summer. He was wearing that stupid fox beanie she'd secretly loved.

"You look like you're plotting something," he said, grinning. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Maya lied. "Just... thinking about how my mom made me take this vitamin D supplement because apparently I never go outside."

Leo laughed, and Maya felt her face burn.

"No, seriously." She gestured at the party. "Everyone here seems to know something I don't. Like there's some secret to being a teenager that I missed the memo on."

Leo's expression softened. "You know that riddle about the sphinx?"

"What?"

"The sphinx asks Oedipus this riddle: what walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening? The answer is man—because we crawl as babies, walk as adults, and use canes when we're old." Leo paused. "I feel like we're in the crawling stage. Like nobody actually knows what they're doing. They're just better at pretending."

Maya looked at him really looked at him. Behind the fox beanie and the easy smile, he seemed just as lost as she felt.

"So we're all just... faking it?"

"Yeah." Leo bumped her shoulder with his. "But hey, at least we're faking it together."

Someone called Leo's name from across the room. He started to turn away, then looked back.

"You coming?"

Maya took a breath, set down her soda, and followed him into the crowd. Her hands had stopped shaking.