The Riddle of Real Friends

Maya dragged herself through the hallway feeling like a total zombie. Three hours of sleep, two AP exams, and one existential crisis would do that to you. Her phone buzzed again — another group chat blowing up without her.

"Hey!"

Jordan fell into step beside her, electric energy practically crackling off them. That was Jordan — always a human lightning strike of enthusiasm and chaos. Sometimes being their friend was exhausting. Today, Maya barely had the energy to exist.

"Academic Decathlon practice today," Jordan continued, oblivious. "We're doing mythology. Coach Peterson says there's going to be sphinx riddles on the regional —"

"Jordan, seriously?" Maya stopped at her locker. "I haven't slept in, like, thirty hours. Can the mythology wait?"

Jordan's face fell. "Oh. Sorry. I just thought... you know, we need to practice together."

The awkward silence stretched between them like the gap between their lockers — used to be so close, now somehow distant. Since when had things gotten so weird? Since Jordan joined the debate team and started sitting with the debate kids at lunch? Since Maya's parents started talking about divorce and she'd stopped talking about anything at all?

"Hey," Jordan said softly. "You good?"

"Just tired," Maya said, because the real answer was too complicated for a hallway conversation. "It's whatever."

Jordan hesitated, then: "My parents are fighting again. I think they might... you know."

Maya looked up. Really looked at Jordan for the first time in weeks. Saw the exhaustion under the eyes, the way Jordan's usual lightning-fast energy was flickering.

"Same," Maya said. "Mine too."

They stood there for a moment, two zombies holding up the hallway wall, both pretending they weren't falling apart.

"You want to come over?" Jordan asked. "We could study. Or just... not study."

"Yeah," Maya said, feeling something loosen in her chest. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Maybe they didn't need to solve the sphinx's riddle today. Maybe the real riddle was figuring out how to be friends when everything felt like it was crumbling. But for now, walking toward Jordan's house, not studying anything except how to keep showing up — that felt like enough.

The sky darkened, and somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbled like the universe saying, finally, you got it right.