The Sphinx at the Deep End

The pool deck at the country club was basically a battlefield, and Jordan was losing. Bad.

She stood by the snack bar in her two-piece that felt approximately three sizes too small, clutching a papaya smoothie like it was a lifeline. Meanwhile, half the swim team was doing cannonballs off the high dive, their laughter cutting through the humidity like, well, like they actually belonged here.

"You gonna swim or just hold up the wall?"

Jordan flinched. It was Tyler—aka "the fox" because of his red hair and his ability to smoothly slide out of any actual work. He was also her lab partner and the reason she'd even come to this stupid end-of-year party.

"I'm contemplating my life choices," Jordan deadpanned, which earned a genuine laugh.

"Fair." He nodded toward the far end of the pool. "Check it out. Luna's been in the same position for like, two hours."

And there she was—Luna Chen, coolest person in their grade, sprawled on a lounge chair like some ancient Egyptian sphinx, mysterious and untouchable, scrolling through her phone with the kind of effortless confidence Jordan had been trying to fake since approximately forever.

"She's probably just waiting for someone to ask her a riddle," Jordan said, and Tyler actually laughed out loud.

"Okay, that was actually good. You're funny when you're not overthinking everything."

He said it so simply, like it was obvious, and something in Jordan's chest loosened. The smoothie cup was sweating all over her hand, but suddenly that didn't matter so much.

Then Luna's voice carried across the deck. "Hey! Who wants to play chicken fights?"

Jordan froze. Chicken fights meant being on someone's shoulders in the pool, being the center of attention, potentially humiliating herself in front of everyone.

"I call Jordan!" Tyler shouted, already cannonballing into the water.

Jordan's heart was basically doing parkour. She looked at Luna—still sphinx-like, now watching her with this unreadable expression. Looked at the pool, where Tyler was treading water, waiting. Looked at her stupid papaya smoothie, which was now mostly melted anyway.

She set it down on the table.

"Whatever," she muttered, and grabbed her nose, and jumped.

The water shocked her lungs, and when she broke the surface, sputtering, Tyler was already there, grinning like an idiot, and Luna was actually smiling too, and somehow, impossibly, Jordan was laughing.

Some sphinxes weren't meant to stay on their pedestals. Some were meant to get wet.