The Sphinx of Room 307

Maya's palms were sweating — like, actually dripping — which was gross and also exactly what happened every time Jake Parker looked in her direction.

"You're literally spying on him," Chloe whispered, sliding into the desk beside her. "That's creepy, even for you."

"I'm not spying," Maya hissed, pulling her baseball cap lower. "I'm conducting ongoing research. There's a difference."

"There isn't." Chloe popped her gum. "Also, your hat makes you look like you're hiding from the FBI."

Maya adjusted the brim anyway. It was her security blanket, her force field, her portable wall against freshman year's swirling chaos.

Then it happened: Jake turned around. Their eyes met for exactly 1.3 seconds. Maya's heart performed something between a flutter and a seizure. He smiled. She opened her mouth to say something cool and normal and —

"Your friend's been watching me all week," Jake said to Chloe. Completely bypassing Maya like she was invisible.

"Oh my GOD," Maya's face burned. "I wasn't —"

"It's fine." Jake's smile shifted into something mysterious. "Actually kind of flattering. You know, there's this rumor going around about me."

He leaned in. Maya's palms were officially a disaster.

"They call me the Sphinx of Room 307," he said quietly. "Because I never talk. But here's the thing about sphinxes — we notice everything."

Maya froze. He knew. He'd known the whole time.

"Including," Jake continued, "that you doodle my name in your margins. And that you're wearing headphones with no music. And that you're actually pretty funny, based on your failed attempt to look busy when I walked by."

Chloe was wheeze-laughing silently beside her.

"So." Jake's eyes crinkled. "Since we've established that you're a terrible spy... wanna sit with me at lunch?"

Maya's palms were sweating. Her hat was crooked. Her best friend was losing it next to her. And Jake Parker, the Sphinx of Room 307, was asking her to lunch.

She pulled off her hat. Her hair frizzed everywhere. She didn't care.

"Only," she said, "if you promise never to call yourself a sphinx again. That was the cringiest thing I've ever heard."

Jake laughed. Real, startled laughter.

"Deal."

And just like that, Maya stopped watching from the sidelines.