The Sphinx Behind Home Plate

Marcus's golden retriever, Buster, had the worst timing ever. Like, literally ever. Just as I'm about to text Emily—the gorgeous junior who'd actually looked at me twice during fourth period—Buster decides the baseball diamond behind the school is his personal bathroom.

"Dude, come on!" I whisper-yelled, dragging him away from home plate. Being the spy who surveils his crush's after-school softball practice was hard enough without your dog marking territory like he owns the place.

That's when I saw it. Spray-painted across the backstop in neon green: SPINX GIVES UP SECRETS FOR SPINACH.

Okay, first of all, "sphinx" was misspelled. Second, what even?

But the timing was weird—Emily's team had just finished their pasta fundraiser lunch, and someone's spinach salad had ended up splattered all over the dugout. The coach had been grumbling about it for twenty minutes.

"You seeing this too?" A voice behind me made me jump. It was Tyler, Emily's weirdly intense teammate who always wore that same black hoodie even in May. "The sphinx riddle. It's back."

"Back?"

"Every spring," he said, like this was normal. "Last year it was 'SPHINX DEMANDS TACOS FOR TRUTH.' Someone left a Crunchwrap Supreme on home plate, and the next day, the starting lineup got posted on Twitter with everyone's secret crushes."

My stomach did that thing where it forgets how to be an organ.

"So if someone leaves spinach..." I started.

"The sphinx tells secrets." Tyler's eyes narrowed. "Big ones. The kind that change everything."

I thought about Emily's laugh during lunch when spinach flew out of her container. How she'd wiped it from her chin while grinning at something someone said. Something about someone she liked.

And suddenly, being a spy didn't feel so fun anymore.

"You got any spinach?" Tyler asked.

I thought about Buster's treat pouch—organic, spinach-flavored dog treats because my mom said regular ones were "basically poison."

"Maybe," I said slowly.

But then I saw Emily walking toward the dugout alone, and something clicked. Some secrets aren't meant to be forced into the light. Some things you earn, or you don't get them at all.

"Nah," I said, turning away. "Let's let the sphinx keep its secrets for now."

Buster wagged his tail like he approved. Sometimes, I thought, being a coward is the bravest thing you can do.