The Riddle of Friday Night

Maya's **iPhone** buzzed for the third time in five minutes. Another group chat blowing up about Tyler's party—the one everyone was going to except her. Again.

She flopped onto her bed, glaring at the ceiling fan. The new haircut had seemed like a good idea yesterday. Now, with her **hair** chopped into a bob that somehow managed to look both messy and timid, she just felt smaller. Like, tiny-voiced and invisible smaller.

Her phone lit up. *Hey, you coming?* From Kira, who'd been her best friend since fourth grade until somehow they weren't anymore.

Maya typed *maybe* and deleted it. Typed *busy* and deleted it. Finally typed *not feeling it* and pressed send before she could overthink.

Her screen went dark. Her room went quiet. And then her phone buzzed again.

Not Kira.

*URGENT. Need u.* From Leo, the weird kid in her English class who wore the same vintage band t-shirt three times a week.

Maya sat up. *???*

*I know what you did last summer,* Leo texted.

*I was at camp??*

*Exactly. Come to the park. Bring snacks.*

Maya grabbed her hoodie. Something about Leo's message made her laugh, and laughing felt better than sitting in her room feeling like the only person not at Tyler's party.

The park was empty except for Leo, who'd set up what appeared to be a shrine under the playground's wooden structure. Candles. A laptop. A very serious-looking spreadsheet.

"What is happening?" Maya asked, pulling her **palm**-sized flashlight from her pocket anyway.

Leo pointed dramatically at the laptop screen, which displayed some kind of ancient text. "I'm building a **sphinx** for my mythology final. Like, a virtual escape room where you have to solve riddles to move between levels. But the riddles keep winning."

Maya peered at the screen. "Wait—is this your final?

"It's due Monday and I have NOTHING. The sphinx keeps eating everyone who tries to answer. Metaphorically. In the game." Leo dropped his head into his hands. "I'm going to fail."

"Let me see." Maya sat cross-legged in the woodchips. "What's the riddle?"

Leo typed. A glowing sphinx face appeared on screen. *I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I?*

Maya stared. Then slowly typed: *an echo.*

The sphinx dissipated into golden particles. *CORRECT,* the screen flashed.

Leo's jaw dropped. "How—"

"I did a mythology unit last year before I transferred. Also, my mom used to do riddles with us on road trips." Maya grinned. "What else you got?"

They solved seven riddles before midnight. Leo kept apologizing for dragging her out, but Maya found herself telling him about the haircut, about Kira, about feeling like she'd somehow missed the memo on how to sixteen correctly.

"The hair's cool," Leo said, looking up from the keyboard. "You look like you could cut someone if they messed with you."

Maya touched her bob. A smile tugged at her mouth. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Also, you just saved my GPA."

**YOUR TURN,* the sphinx appeared again. *I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?*

Maya typed without hesitating. *a map.*

*INCORRECT,* the sphinx declared smugly.

"WHAT," Maya yelled.

Leo laughed. It was this surprised, warm sound that made something loosen in Maya's chest.

They got it right eventually. And when Maya's **iPhone** buzzed with photos from Tyler's party—Kira in someone's arms, everyone laughing—she muted the notifications and helped Leo finish the sphinx's final chamber.

Sometimes the best nights weren't the ones everyone was talking about. Sometimes they were the ones where you stayed up too late solving riddles with a weird kid in a park, figuring out that maybe you didn't need to know how to sixteen correctly. You just had to figure out how to be yourself, whoever that was turning out to be.