The Sphinx of Summer

The humidity clung to me like a second skin as I stood at the edge of the **pool**, clutching my towel like a lifeline. Tyler's graduation party raged around me—music thumping, people cannonballing, laughter exploding across the backyard—and I was officially the most awkward human being on planet Earth.

"Hey, Riddle Girl."

I spun around to find Marcus looming over me, that signature **bull** in a china shop energy radiating off him. His friends snickered behind him, waiting for the show. "You gonna stand there all night or actually get in the water?"

My brain short-circuited. I'd been crushing on Maya since seventh grade, and she was currently lounging on a floatie in the middle of the pool, looking like she belonged in a music video. Meanwhile, I was about to humiliate myself in front of everyone.

Before I could stutter out something lame, someone appeared at my elbow.

"She's asking you a riddle first," said Leo, sliding in front of me with that smooth, sideways grin that made everyone's stomach do flips. "It's tradition. Like the **sphinx** at the gates—you don't enter until you prove you're worthy."

Marcus's face fell. "Since when is that a—"

"Since now." Leo's eyes locked with mine, and I caught it—that flash of solidarity, the secret signal. The one that said, *I got you.*

"What's the riddle?" I asked, playing along.

Leo didn't miss a beat. "What gets stronger the more it breaks?"

The silence stretched. Marcus opened his mouth to mock me, but my brain suddenly clicked into gear. I'd seen this in that indie movie Maya recommended last weekend.

"Silence," I said, then added with newfound confidence, "and hearts."

Leo's eyebrows shot up. "Damn." He grinned, and I saw Maya watching from the pool, eyes bright with interest. "Welcome to the water, Riddle Girl."

As I finally dove in, surfacing to find Maya paddling over with that shy smile that made my chest tight, I realized something: Leo hadn't just saved me from a **bull**y moment. He'd handed me the perfect opening line.

Later that night, sprawled on the pool furniture with Leo and Maya under string lights, we laughed about everything and nothing. And when Maya's **cat**-like curiosity led her to ask what other riddles I knew, I caught Leo's wink across the circle.

Sometimes the best wingman isn't the one who pushes you into the deep end. It's the one who teaches you that getting in on your own terms? That's where the real magic happens.