The Poolside Sphinx

Maya's thumbs hovered over her iPhone screen, the blue light washing over her face in the dim locker room. Outside, the graduation pool party raged — the last bash before everyone scattered to different colleges. She smoothed her vintage swimsuit, took a breath, and stepped into the humid summer air.

The popular crew had formed a human pyramid in the shallow end, Chelsea at the apex laughing like she'd already won at life. Water cascaded down their bronzed bodies, glistening under the string lights. Maya hovered at the edge, clutching her phone like a shield, calculating trajectories to avoid social suicide.

"Hey! You joining or just documenting?" someone called.

Maya looked up. It was Leo, the quiet baseball player who'd sat behind her in AP Lit since sophomore year. He was treading water in the deep end, looking uncharacteristically relaxed.

"Just... thinking about it," she mumbled.

"The sphinx had easier riddles," Leo said, swimming closer. "You've been standing there twenty minutes. What's the question?"

Maya blinked. "The sphinx?"

"You know — 'what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, three in the evening?' The answer's 'man.' But nobody asks what the sphinx did after Oedipus solved it. Probably got pretty lonely." Leo treaded water, watching her. "So? What's your riddle?"

Maya looked at Chelsea's pyramid, at her iPhone blowing up with party photos she wasn't in, at the water reflecting constellations she couldn't name. "I guess... I'm wondering if I'll ever stop feeling like I'm faking it. Like I'm playing someone else's position."

Leo smiled. "Baseball metaphor. Nice." He swam to the pool's edge and patted the deck beside him. "Here's a secret: everyone's faking it. Chelsea's terrified her dad's cutting off her credit card. I've never actually read a single book we were assigned."

Maya sat, dangling her feet in the cool water. "Really?"

"Cross my heart." He floated onto his back. "Your turn. What's something nobody knows about you?"

She thought about her secret Tumblr poetry blog, her rejection from art school, the way she still slept with a stuffed narwhal. "I write poems," she said finally. "But I've never shown anyone."

Leo turned onto his stomach, suddenly alert. "That's it? That's the big dark secret? Maya, that's badass."

She laughed, and it sounded real. "It's embarrassing."

"No, it's brave." He stood up, water dripping from his eyelashes. "Show me one."

"Now?"

"Why not? Chelsea's pyramid already collapsed anyway."

Sure enough, the popular crew was tangled in the shallow end, laughing. Maya slipped into the water, letting it close over her head, hearing only the muffled underwater silence. When she surfaced, her iPhone sat safely on dry land, and Leo was still waiting.

"Okay," she said. "But if they suck, you can never tell anyone."

"Deal." He grinned. "The sphinx would be proud."

She recited the first lines, and for the first time all night, Maya didn't feel like she was drowning.