The Sphinx at Midnight

The cable was frayed at the edges, much like my nerves. I stared at the tangle of HDMI and ethernet cords behind Kyle's TV while half the junior class milled around his basement, red solo cups in hand, some dumb trap music vibrating through the floorboards.

"You gonna fix that or just stare at it like it's the sphinx's riddle?"

Maya leaned against the doorframe, looking unfairly composed in her oversized hoodie. She was the kind of girl who could wear tie-dye to a funeral and make it work.

"I'm mentally preparing," I said, which was definitely a lie. Truth was, I'd agreed to set up Kyle's gaming setup for the "epic afterparty" because apparently knowing which HDMI port goes where made me some kind of tech wizard.

She snorted. "You've been standing there for ten minutes, Leo."

"That's called thoroughness."

"That's called overthinking everything, as per usual." She slid down the wall to sit beside me, smelling like vanilla and something sharp, maybe citrus. "You know you don't have to perform for them."

I blinked. "What?"

"The whole tech genius thing. The quiet mysterious vibe." She gestured vaguely at the party. "Everyone's just pretending they know what they're doing. Even Jordan."

Jordan Fox—everyone just called him "Fox" because he'd apparently earned the nickname in middle school for always landing on his feet. He was currently holding court by the ping pong table, laughing too loud at someone's joke, his hand brushing against different people's arms like he was testing for warmth.

"He seems like he's doing fine," I said.

Maya raised an eyebrow. "He's been asking about you all night."

I felt something weird in my chest. "Me? Why?"

"Says he wants to ask you something. Probably about that cat you found last week—the one you rescued from behind the gym. He heard about it from someone."

I stared at her. The cat had been this tiny, hissing thing that had scratched up both my arms before finally letting me pick it up. I hadn't told anyone about it except my older sister.

"And he remembered that?"

"People remember what matters, Leo." She stood up, brushing off her jeans. "Anyway, the cable's not going to plug itself in. But hey—if you're tired of being the guy in the background..." She nodded toward where Fox stood, now looking directly at us across the room. "Maybe don't overthink this one."

She walked away, leaving me with my frayed cable and my suddenly racing heart. Fox waved, small and almost shy, and I realized maybe sphinxes didn't have to be riddles you couldn't solve.

Maybe they were just waiting for someone to ask the right question.