The Sphinx's Ethernet Cable

Jordan's hands shook as he held the coaxial cable like it was some kind of ancient artifact. The whole neighborhood's internet depended on this moment.

"Dude, you got this," Marcus said, but Jordan could hear the doubt in his best friend's voice. They'd been drifting apart since Marcus made varsity baseball and started hanging with the popular crowd. Jordan was still just the guy who was decent at video games and awkward in conversation.

The pyramid scheme Marcus had gotten them both into—selling those overpriced energy drinks to other kids—had blown up in their faces last week. Jordan had lost sixty bucks he couldn't afford to lose. Marcus had apologized, but the distance between them kept growing like a slow fracture in glass.

Now they were stuck in Mrs. Gable's attic, trying to fix her cable connection so Jordan could earn twenty bucks and maybe, finally, pay Marcus back.

"It's like the sphinx," Jordan muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Riddles within riddles. Why does this cable go here? What's the password? Why did I think this was a good idea?"

Marcus laughed, and for a second, they were just twelve again, staying up too late playing games and talking about everything and nothing.

"Mrs. Gable told me the password," Marcus said. "It's 'BASEBALL2024'. All caps."

Jordan's fingers flew across the keyboard. Connection established. The router blinked green.

"You remembered," Jordan said softly.

"Of course I remembered." Marcus leaned against the cardboard boxes stacked around them. "I know I've been, like, absent lately. Practice is brutal. And the guys from the team—"

"You don't have to explain." Jordan stood up, dusting off his jeans. "It's cool. People grow apart. That's what my mom says."

"I don't want to grow apart from you, though." Marcus looked at his shoes. "Those pyramid scheme guys? They were never really my friends. Not like you."

Jordan felt something in his chest loosen. "So... you want to come over later? My mom's making that pasta you like."

"Yeah." Marcus grinned. "And maybe we can finally beat that sphinx boss in that game we've been stuck on for, like, three months."

"Deal." Jordan handed him the twenty bucks Mrs. Gable had pressed into his palm downstairs. "For the energy drink money."

Marcus pocketed it without counting. "Nah. Consider it interest. On our friendship."