The Sphinx at Third Base

Maya's goldfish, Neptune, had seen more of her breakdowns than anyone else. Which was pathetic, honestly, because Neptune had a three-second memory and spent most of his time swimming into the same plastic castle wall, over and over.

"You get it, right?" she asked, tapping the bowl. "Tyler isn't going to notice me if I keep hiding behind my AP Calculus book like some scared freshman."

Neptune blew a bubble.

The school sphinx—this ancient-looking concrete thing that seniors had claimed as their throne—loomed by the entrance. The Fox Squad sat there daily: Skylar and her crew, all perfectly curated outfits and effortless hair, like they'd been Photoshopped into reality. They were intimidating, sure, but Maya wanted that kind of confidence. That kind of *bold*.

At lunch, Tyler caught her staring. Again. He was the baseball team's shortstop, all messy dark hair and those ridiculous dimples. Maya had memorized his stats from the team website. Batting average: .312. Hobbies: hiking, vintage vinyl, and existing within Maya's line of sight.

"Hey," he said, sliding onto the bench across from her. "You're Maya, right? From Mr. Harrison's class?"

Her heart did something violent against her ribs. "Yeah. Hi."

"Cool." He smiled. "I heard you're good at physics. Could maybe use some help with the projectile motion unit? Coach says it'll help with pitching mechanics, but I'm, like, completely lost."

Maya's brain short-circuited. Tyler—the Tyler—was asking HER for help. Meanwhile, the goldfish memory exchange kicked in: what did she even know about projectile motion?

"I could try?" she managed, voice steady-ish. "After school, library?"

"Bet." He stood up, then paused. "Also, you were at the game Friday, right? When I made that diving catch in left field?"

"Every game," she said before she could stop herself.

His eyebrows raised. "Dope. I, uh, I noticed. See you later."

He walked away, and Maya's face burned. The Fox Squad—Skylar specifically—was watching from the sphinx. But instead of the usual smirk, Skylar gave her this tiny nod, almost approving.

Maya's phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: *this is tyler from physics lol. forreal about studying right?*

She typed back: *forreal. See you at 3.*

That night, she fed Neptune an extra pinch of flakes.

"He noticed," she told the fish. "He actually noticed."

Neptune did a little victory lap around his castle. Maybe three-second memories weren't so bad after all. Sometimes you didn't need to hold onto everything forever—just the moments that mattered.