The Sphinx of Room 304

Maya's palms were sweating. Like, actually dripping. She wiped them on her jeans again, wishing she'd stayed home with her book instead of coming to Jessica's 'end of freshman year' party.

'You look like you're spying on everyone,' said Jordan, suddenly appearing beside her with a red plastic cup. 'It's cool. I'm doing it too.'

Maya jumped. 'No! Just... observing. Social anthropology.'

Jordan laughed. 'Sure, Dr. Maya.' He nodded toward the kitchen. 'Word of advice? Don't eat the spinach dip. Trust.'

'Maybe I should just go,' Maya mumbled, pulling her beanie hat lower over her forehead. This was exactly why she didn't do parties. She always felt like everyone was watching her, like she was some kind of alien trying to pass for human.

'Wait.' Jordan stepped closer, his expression suddenly serious. 'You're The Sphinx, right?'

'The what?'

'The Sphinx. On the app? You write those anonymous advice posts? The ones that actually get it?' He pulled out his phone, scrolled, then showed her. 'Your riddle about fitting in when you feel like you're faking everything? That's literally me every day.'

Maya stared. Her anonymous posts—the ones she wrote at 2 AM, the ones she thought no one actually read—someone had noticed? Someone actually related?

'That's... not me,' she said automatically.

Jordan raised an eyebrow. 'Your hat says otherwise. You posted that exact beanie in your sphinx-selfie last week.'

Maya's face burned. But then—'You really think my posts are... good?'

'Dude,' Jordan said. 'You're basically the oracle of our grade. Every time I'm spiraling about whatever, I check your posts and feel less alone. Like I'm not the only one pretending to have it figured out.'

Something in Maya's chest loosened. All this time, she'd been writing into the void, thinking she was just shouting into emptiness. But she wasn't alone. She wasn't the only one who felt like an imposter, like everyone else had gotten a manual she'd missed.

'Maya?' called Jessica from across the room. 'You coming? We're doing karaoke!'

Maya looked at Jordan, then at her hands—her palms weren't sweating anymore. She smiled, pulled off her hat, and headed toward the music.