The Oracle of Dead Pets

Maya's room was basically a shrine to her social anxiety—posters of bands she pretended to like, a shelf of books she'd never finished, and Barnaby, her‌ ‌goldfish‌ who'd survived three moves and two near-death experiences by toilet flush. He was literally the only living thing that didn't make her feel awkward.

"You're not going to believe this," said Leo, her‌ ‌friend‌ since kindergarten and the only person who knew about her secret Tumblr dedicated to chicken nugget aesthetics. He burst through her door without knocking, because that's what best friends do when they've seen you cry over a spilled smoothie. "Jordan actually invited us to their party. THE Jordan. Like, the human embodiment of cool."

Maya's stomach did that thing where it felt like someone was wringing it out like a wet towel. Jordan was the kind of person who knew what songs were trending before they even trended. Meanwhile, Maya was still recovering from the time she'd waved at someone who was waving at someone behind her.

"I can't go," Maya said. "I have to... feed Barnaby."

"You fed him this morning."

"He's a growing goldfish with emotional needs!"

The real reason wasn't Barnaby. It was Jordan's party last year, where Maya had spent forty-five minutes stuck in a conversation with someone about sphinxes because she'd panicked and said she was really into ancient Egyptian mythology. Now everyone thought she was some expert on mythical creature riddles, which was honestly the most random thing to be known for.

"What if someone asks about the sphinx thing again?" Maya groaned, burying her face in her pillow. "I literally know nothing about sphinxes except they have wings and ask riddles."

"Just say you're going through a post-ironic sphinx phase," Leo said, like that made any sense. "Or lean into it. Become the sphinx girl. Own your weirdness, that's what Jordan's whole vibe is about anyway."

Maya lifted her head. Barnaby was doing that thing where he stared at his reflection like he was contemplating existence itself.

"You know what? Fine. I'll go. But if anyone asks about sphinx riddles, I'm telling them the answer is always 'be yourself,' because that's literally what every teen movie ever has taught me."

"That's the spirit," Leo grinned. "Besides, Jordan probably won't even remember. They were, like, extremely not sober that night."

They went. Maya didn't become best friends with Jordan, but she did have a genuine conversation about actual ancient Egyptian mythology with someone else, which was somehow better. And Barnaby got extra flakes that night because sometimes you just have to celebrate small wins. Being a teenager was mostly just learning how to exist without feeling like everyone was judging your every move, but having friends who didn't make you feel weird about it helped. A lot.