The Papaya Prophecy

Maya's phone buzzed with another text from Sophie: "Where r u??? Everyone's asking about u."

Maya groaned and flopped onto her bed. The party—that ridiculously Instagram-worthy pool party at Jordan's house—had started two hours ago. She should be there. Sophie had been her best friend since seventh grade, but lately everything felt weird. Sophie kept ditching her to sit with the popular crowd, those girls who acted like they were starring in their own reality show.

"You're overthinking it," her older brother Leo had said earlier. "Just go. Have fun."

Easy for him to say. He wasn't the one who had to navigate the treacherous waters of teenage friendship while simultaneously trying to figure out why his hands got sweaty whenever a certain someone walked by.

Maya's mom poked her head into the room. "Honey, you okay? I cut up some papaya for you."

"No thanks, Mom. Not hungry."

Her mom's eyebrows knitted together. Maya never turned down papaya. It was literally her favorite fruit.

Maya sighed and grabbed her phone. Fine. She'd go. For twenty minutes. Just long enough to prove she wasn't letting social anxiety ruin her life.

The party was exactly what she expected—too loud, too crowded, people taking aesthetic photos of their drinks instead of actually talking. Sophie spotted her immediately and rushed over, eyes wide.

"You came! I thought you weren't coming!"

"Here I am," Maya said, trying to sound more confident than she felt.

Sophie grabbed her arm. "Okay, so basically, Alex has been asking about you all night."

Alex. The human sphinx. Gorgeous, unreadable, impossible to decipher. Maya had spent months trying to figure out whether Alex's lingering glances meant something or if she was just projecting her own feelings onto the situation.

"Asking about me? Like, what?"

"Like, 'Where's Maya?' and 'Is she coming?' and then literally five minutes ago, he was eating that fruit platter and he literally said—this is so weird—he was like, 'Is there any papaya left?'"

Maya froze. "What?"

"I KNOW! So random, right? But then he said your name and I was like, oh my god, does Alex have a thing for you?"

Maya's heart did something complicated in her chest. A papaya reference. From Alex. The sphinx had finally spoken a riddle she could understand.

Sophie was still talking. "And listen, I know I've been kinda distant lately, but it's because I've been trying to figure out how to set you guys up without being obvious about it. You're my friend, Maya. I want you to be happy."

Maya felt something in her chest loosen. The anxiety that had been knotting her stomach for weeks suddenly unraveled. Maybe she didn't need to solve the riddle of Alex's feelings alone. Maybe her friendship with Sophie wasn't crumbling—it was just changing, growing into something different.

"So," Sophie said, grinning. "You gonna go talk to them?"

Maya took a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

The papaya prophecy had spoken. Whatever that meant, she was ready to find out.