The Sphinx of Room 304

Maya's palms were sweating again. She gripped her iPhone in the bathroom stall, doomscrolling through Instagram while her classmates danced at Spring Fling outside. The tropical theme meant paper palm trees lined the gym walls, and someone had spiked the punch with actual papaya juice—which sounded gross until you realized it was the only thing not making people sick.

"Hey."

Maya nearly dropped her phone. Chloe stood there, adjusting her crown. The Sphinx of Room 304. The girl who sat in the back row, answering every question with riddles instead of facts. The one everyone whispered about because she'd transferred from three different schools and never seemed to care about the social pyramid that ruled their lives.

"You hiding too?" Chloe asked, leaning against the stall door.

"No," Maya lied, then sighed. "Yes. My crush is out there dancing with Jessica, and I'm just... not."

Chloe's lips twitched. "The pyramid is overrated, anyway. Built on the backs of workers who didn't choose to be there."

"You always talk like that," Maya said, surprising herself. "Like everything's some metaphor."

"Isn't it?" Chloe flipped her own iPhone—no case, stickers peeling—over in her hands. "My phone's at 17%. My parents are divorcing. I've lived in four cities this year. The only constant is that everything changes, and people pretend it doesn't."

Maya stared. The Sphinx wasn't mysterious. She was just lonely.

"Wanna get out of here?" Chloe asked. "There's a papaya truck outside. And I promise not to make any riddles."

Maya's palms stopped sweating. She followed Chloe out of the stall, past the paper palms and the pyramid of social expectations she'd been trapped inside all year.

"Your phone," Chloe said as they pushed through the gym doors. "What if we turned them off? Just for tonight."

Maya looked at her screen—one notification from her mom, three from group chats that made her feel small. Then she powered it down.

The night air tasted like freedom. And somewhere behind them, the sphinx's riddle had been answered: sometimes you have to leave the pyramid to find your people.