The Riddle of the Pool

Maya's hair wasn't cooperating. Again. She'd spent forty minutes trying to tame the frizz, but the humidity had other plans. Welcome to sixteen, where your own hair becomes your biggest enemy.

"You look fine," her best friend Chen said, though his eyes betrayed him. "Actually, you kinda look like a wet fox."

"Gee, thanks."

"No, I mean like, a cute fox! A determined fox!" Chen fumbled. "Like, sneaky and strategic."

Maya rolled her, but couldn't help smiling. Chen had been calling her Fox since seventh grade, back when she'd hacked the school computer system to change the cafeteria menu to "Taco Tuesday" (it hadn't worked, but the legend remained).

They arrived at the pool party, and immediately Maya's stomach did that thing where it remembered she existed and wasn't super chill about social situations. Everyone was already there, swimming and laughing and somehow making everything look effortless. Jordan—her crush since November—was by the diving board, looking unfairly comfortable in his own skin.

Then her phone buzzed. Her mom. AGAIN.

"Did you remember the charging cable?"

"MOM, I'm at a party."

"Just checking! Love you!"

Maya shoved her phone in her bag and made her way to the edge of the pool, where Jordan sat, studying.

"What's that?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

He looked up, and his actual eyelashes were somehow perfect. "Mythology project. The Sphinx. You know, the riddle thing?"

"Oh yeah. What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, three in the evening."

"Exactly!" His face lit up. "You know it!"

"My dad used to tell me that when I was little. He said it was about growing up—you crawl when you're a baby, walk when you're older, use a cane when you're old."

"That's... actually kinda deep." Jordan studied her for a second. "You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"We're all sphinxes. Making everything way more complicated than it needs to be. Asking riddles we already know the answers to."

Something about the way he said it made her feel like she was swimming in warm water, weightless.

"So," Jordan continued, "what's your riddle, Maya?"

"What?"

"Everyone's got one. Something they're overthinking. What's yours?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it. The real answer was something like "why am I so awkward" or "do you like me" or "why can't I just be normal" but instead she heard herself say:

"How do you know when to stop being scared and just... jump in?"

Jordan considered this for a moment, then stood up, held out his hand.

"Like this."

And before she could overthink it—which she'd been doing since approximately forever—she took it, and they jumped in together, clothes and all, while everyone cheered, and for the first time all summer, Maya's hair problem became the least interesting thing about her.