The Sphinx at Exit 7

The sphinx statue in Mr. Henderson's classroom had seen some things. Mostly, it had seen me failGeometry. But today, it watched something actually interesting.

"Did you hear about Jordan and Kayla?" Lena whispered, sliding into the seat beside me. "Apparently they were caught running behind the bleachers during lunch."

I rolled my eyes. "Again? That's the third time this month."

Lena, my best friend since kindergarten, lived for this stuff. She ran the school's underground gossip network like it was a Fortune 500 company. I was just along for the ride, mostly because I lacked the courage to hop off.

"Oh!" Lena's eyes widened. "Get this — Maya's supposedly transferring."

My stomach dropped. Maya Chen. The girl I'd been lowkey obsessed with since seventh grade. The one who sat behind me in English and always smelled like vanilla and old books. The one I'd spent all summer drafting a text to but never sent because, well, *panic*.

"What? Why?" I managed.

"Her dad got a job offer in Chicago. End of the semester." Lena checked her phone as messages flooded in. "You should say something. Before she leaves."

"I can't just—" I started, but the bell cut me off.

Later, at cross country practice, I found myself running harder than usual. My sneakers slapped the pavement in rhythm with my racing thoughts. *Say something. Don't say something. Why would she care? She's leaving anyway.*

Coach blew the whistle. "Good work today. Hit the showers."

I was the last one out, tying my shoe when I noticed her sitting on the bleachers alone. Maya. Reading. Like a complete lack of social norms wasn't a thing.

I almost kept walking. Almost. But something made me stop.

"Hey," I said, and it came out more strangled than I'd intended.

She looked up, and those dark eyes locked onto mine. "Hey."

"I, uh... heard you might be moving?" Why did I say that? That's literally the worst conversation starter ever.

Maya closed her book. "Yeah. Chicago."

"That's... far."

"Yeah." She studied me for a moment. "I'm gonna miss it here, though."

"Really?"

"Yeah." A small smile. "There's this guy in my English class who always makes the worst puns. I'm gonna miss those."

My face burned. She noticed my puns?

"And I was gonna ask him to homecoming," she continued, "but I kept chickening out. Figured I had time, you know?"

The sphinx in Mr. Henderson's room had nothing on this riddle.

"You still could," I heard myself say. "Ask him, I mean. Before you go."

Maya stood up, walked down the bleacher steps until she was right in front of me. "Maybe you could ask him for me. See what he says?"

"He'd say yes," I whispered. "Like, immediately yes."

"Good to know." She reached for my hand. "So... about that homecoming?"

The sphinx would approve. Some riddles solve themselves when you stop running from the answer.