The Sphinx at the Summer Party

Maya's palm was sweating against the plastic red cup, and she was pretty sure everyone noticed. Like, actually noticed. Not in the "oh I'm being paranoid" way, but in the "there's literally a sweat ring forming on the solo cup" way.

"You good?" whispered Chloe, her ride-or-die since seventh grade when they'd both gotten stuck wearing matching unicorn shirts on picture day.

"Yeah, just doing the thing," Maya whispered back. The thing being: trying to look chill while repeatedly glancing at Lucas, who was standing by the cable box with his friends, being absolutely devastating in that way where he probably didn't even know he was doing it.

That's when she spotted the fox.

Not a metaphorical fox. An actual fox. A tiny, scrawny, weirdly determined fox that had somehow gotten into Sophie's backyard and was now staring down a cluster of terrified sophomores.

"Is that—" Chloe started.

"A fox?" finished Maya, who'd spent way too much time on nature documentaries when she couldn't sleep.

The fox tilted its head, surveying the party like it was evaluating the guest list. Then it made a beeline for Lucas.

Of course it did.

Lucas, because apparently he was perfect in every way, didn't freak out. He just crouched down and held out his hand like he was Disney princess-ing or something. The fox sniffed his palm, gave him this look that was absolutely judging his life choices, and then trotted away with a cable—it had grabbed someone's phone charging cable from the ground.

"Did that fox just—" someone started.

"Steal that cable?" someone else finished.

The whole party dissolved into chaos. People were taking videos, Sophie's mom came out asking why there was a wild animal at her daughter's birthday gathering, and Lucas caught Maya's eye and actually laughed. Not like, a polite laugh. A real laugh.

Later, when they were all sitting on the back porch watching Sophie's mom file an animal control report (wild), Lucas sat down next to her.

"You're like, the sphinx of this party," he said.

"What?"

"You just observe everything. You knew it was a fox before anyone else did."

Maya felt her face getting hot. "I watch a lot of nature docs when I can't sleep."

"Me too," he said. "Last night it was that one about octopuses? They're insanely smart."

They spent the next hour talking about everything and nothing, and Maya forgot to be nervous. Which was new. Being nervous was basically her personality type.

She checked her palm again. Still sweaty. But somehow, that didn't matter anymore.