The Riddle in Your Pocket

Maya's iPhone buzzed with the third text from Chloe in five minutes. *U coming???* *Party starts in 10* *Hello???*

Maya stared at her ceiling fan, that familiar social dread curling in her stomach like a snake. House parties weren't her thing — never had been. Give her a book, her sketchpad, or the company of her two goldfish, Bubbles and Fin, and she was golden. People were complicated. Fish just needed to be fed.

*You know what?* Maya typed. *On my way.*

Her thumb hovered over send. This was dumb. She'd probably spend the whole night in a corner, refreshing Instagram like a loser.

Lightning flashed outside her window, illuminating the half-finished charcoal drawing on her desk. Ms. Hernandez's extra credit assignment: *Draw something that represents a mystery to you.* Maya had sketched a sphinx — the ancient riddle-creature, half-lion, half-human, forever asking questions nobody could answer.

What was *her* sphinx? The riddle she couldn't solve?

*Why is it so easy to be alone and so hard to be with people?*

Her phone lit up again. Not Chloe this time. *Unknown Number.*

*Hey, it's Jordan from English. Saw your sphinx drawing yesterday. It was really good. *

Maya sat up. Jordan, with the cool leather jacket and the permanent smirk. The one who sat three rows back and never seemed to care what anyone thought.

*Thanks,* Maya typed back, heart suddenly racing. *It's for extra credit.*

*Yeah, I figured. Riddle me this, though — why's someone who draws like that hiding in the back of the classroom?*

Maya stared at the message. Outside, thunder rattled her window.

*Long story,* she wrote.

*I've got time,* Jordan replied. *There's this party at Emma's if you wanna talk. Or we could just grab food. *

Maya's finger hovered. She thought about Chloe's texts. About the party she didn't want to attend. About the sphinx on her desk — about questions and answers and how sometimes you had to speak the riddle aloud to find what you were looking for.

The goldfish swam in lazy circles in their tank. Lightning flickered again, closer this time.

*Food sounds better,* Maya typed. *What did you have in mind?*

She hit send before she could overthink it. Before her brain could list all the ways this could go wrong.

*There's that taco truck near school. 8?*

*See you there,* Maya wrote, setting down her phone.

Her sphinx drawing seemed to smile at her in the half-light. Some riddles didn't need answers. Sometimes you just had to keep asking.