The Sphinx of sophomore hallway

Maya's ancient iPhone vibrated against her thigh, lighting up with another Insta story from Bryce. Her thumbs moved on autopilot, tapping through his posts like a spy gathering intelligence on enemy territory.

"You're literally obsessed," said Jordan, sliding into the cafeteria bench beside her. "It's giving 'stalker energy.'"

"Shut up," Maya muttered, pocketing her phone. "I'm not obsessed. I'm... conducting research."

Jordan snorted. "Right. And I'm the Queen of England. Face it, Maya. You're treating this whole crush situation like the sphinx's riddle. Like there's some secret code you need to crack before you can just talk to him."

Maya poked at her untouched pizza. The thing was, Jordan wasn't wrong. Bryce seemed perfect — cute, smart, apparently into photography based on his aesthetic story posts. But every time Maya tried to say anything beyond "hey" in the hallway, her brain short-circuited.

"Just ask him to the winter formal," Jordan said, stealing a pepperoni. "What's the worst that happens? He says no, you die of embarrassment for three days, life goes on."

"That's literally the worst thing!"

"That's such bull and you know it." Jordan's expression softened. "Look, Bryce literally liked your selfie yesterday. The one with the terrible bathroom lighting. He's interested. You're just overthinking everything."

"What if he's just being nice?"

"What if he's not?" Jordan countered. "What if he's waiting for you to make a move because you're always giving him weird staring vibes in AP Chem?"

Maya's face burned. She did give him weird staring vibes.

The bell rang, saving her from responding. But as they walked to fourth period, she saw Bryce at his locker, messing with his phone. Their eyes met. He actually smiled.

"Hey Maya," he said, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Hey," she managed, and it came out normal-ish.

"I was gonna ask," he continued, closing his locker, "are you going to winter formal?"

Jordan elbowed her so hard Maya almost fell over.

"I— yeah, I think so."

"Cool. Me too." Bryce shifted his weight. "Maybe we could... I mean, if you wanted to go together—"

"Yes!" Maya practically shouted, then immediately wanted to die.

Bryce laughed, looking relieved. "Okay, cool. Great."

"Great," Maya echoed, feeling light and terrified all at once.

"So smooth," Jordan whispered as Bryce walked away. "Truly, your spy training has paid off."

Maya couldn't stop grinning. The sphinx's riddle wasn't so complicated after all. Sometimes people just liked each other, and you just had to say yes.