The Sphinx of Saturday Night

Maya's first house party wasn't supposed to go like this.

She'd spent forty minutes perfecting her eyeliner, practicing the wing until it was sharp enough to cut through her anxiety. Jordan would be there—Jordan, who sat behind her in AP English and smelled like vanilla and confidence.

The party was at Tyler's house—parents in Cabo, obviously. Maya walked in and immediately felt like she'd stepped into someone else's life.

"Spinach dip's in the kitchen," Tyler announced, like it was normal to serve spinach dip at a high school party.

Maya was too nervous to eat dinner, so she drifted toward the kitchen. The dip was actually good. She had three chips.

She was wiping her mouth when she heard THAT laugh—the one that made her stomach flip—and turned to see Jordan across the room. Jordan waved. Maya lifted her hand to wave back, and that's when she felt it: a chunk of spinach wedged between her front teeth.

Her face burned. She turned toward the wall, desperately trying to dislodge it with her tongue. No luck. It was stuck fast, like a green middle finger from the universe.

"Dude, check it out."

A guy held up a plastic bag. A goldfish swam inside, looking betrayed.

"His name is Neptune," the guy said proudly.

Maya inched toward the bathroom, spinach still mocking her. The door was locked. She waited, checking her phone like she had somewhere important to be, when she noticed the cable running along the baseboard—thick black ethernet snaking from room to room.

Behind her, someone cleared their throat.

Jordan leaned against the wall in that effortless way that probably wasn't effortless.

"You got a little—" Jordan touched their own teeth. "—spinach right there. Happens to the best of us."

Maya frantically wiped at her teeth until her finger came away green. She wanted to evaporate. This was it. Spinach-Girl Maya, legend of the party circuit.

"Your turn," Jordan said.

"What?"

"Bathroom. Tyler's sister has a Sphinx statue in there—super weird and awesome. You can stare into its mysterious stone eyes while you recover."

Maya blinked. Jordan wasn't making fun of her.

"It's not real," Jordan added, "but it feels like it's judging your entire existence."

The door opened. Jordan held it for her.

Inside, the miniature Sphinx perched on the counter like it owned the place. Its painted stone face was inscrutable, faintly amused.

Maya looked into its eyes and started laughing—really laughing, the kind that shook her shoulders. A Sphinx. At a high school party. With spinach in her teeth and a goldfish in a bag in the other room.

Her phone buzzed. Her mom: *Having fun?*

Maya typed back: *You wouldn't believe me if I told you.*

When she came out, Jordan was still waiting.

"So," Jordan said, "you want to meet Neptune?"

And just like that, Maya stepped into the room like she belonged there—spinach-free, Sphinx-blessed, ready for whatever happened next.