The Riddle at Maya's Party

Kai stood outside Maya's house, clutching his iPhone like a lifeline. The screen showed 11:47 PM. Three minutes until he'd been inside for an hour and could bail without looking lame.

Inside, the bass thumped against his ribs. This was supposed to be the party of the semester, but Kai felt like a goldfish in a bowl—separated from everything by glass, watching but never truly part of it. His friends had scattered the second they walked in. Now he was stuck against the wall, nursing a flat soda.

Then he saw her.

Sofia sat curled up on the back porch with a massive Golden Retriever. Not party-Sofia with the perfect hair and the effortlessly cool friends. This was different—quieter, realer.

Kai stepped outside. Cool air hit his face. The dog lifted its head, thumped its tail once.

"That's Barnaby," Sofia said. "He thinks he's a human."

"Weird dog."

"Weird how?"

"Just... confident. Like he knows something we don't."

Sofia laughed. It wasn't her practiced social laugh. This one was genuine, surprising.

"You know what the sphinx said?" she asked suddenly. "About riddles and truth."

"Sphinx? Like, mythology sphinx?"

"Yeah. My mom's obsessed with Greek myths. The sphinx asked riddles, but the real question was always: who are you, really? When nobody's watching."

Kai thought about it. The sphinx's question, hanging over them like smoke.

Lightning cracked across the sky. For a second, everything was sharp—Sofia's eyes, the dog's golden fur, the rain about to fall.

"Who am I?" Kai asked. "Honestly? I'm the guy who's been texting his friends to rescue me for the last forty-five minutes."

Sofia's phone buzzed. She glanced at it, then set it face-down on the porch.

"I'm the girl who's been pretending to text people so I wouldn't look lonely."

They sat there for a moment. The first raindrops began to fall.

"Want to get out of here?" Sofia asked.

"Where?"

"I don't know. Anywhere but here."

Kai smiled—really smiled, for the first time all night. He set his phone down next to hers.

"Yeah. Let's go."

They ran into the rain, Barnaby barking after them, tails—human and canine—wagging in the sudden summer storm.