The Sphinx's Ethernet Cable

The ethernet cable lay coiled like a dead snake on Maya's basement floor, its blue humming slightly where it connected to the router. Friday night. Raid night. And of course, the one night her entire friend group was counting on her to carry, her WiFi decided to ghost her.

"You lagging again?" The voice crackled through her headset. Leo. Always Leo, with that tone that suggested he was doing her a massive favor by even playing with her.

"Working on it," Maya muttered, yanking the cable from the port. Blue light from her monitor washed over her face—highlighting the three pimples she'd spent twenty minutes concealing earlier, like anyone on Discord could actually see her.

She scrambled upstairs to grab the spare cable from her dad's office. That's when she noticed it: a pair of Converses she recognized immediately, parked by the front door.

No. No WAY.

Maya crept closer to the living room. There, sprawled on her couch like she owned the place, was Sarah Chen—captain of the debate team, GPA 4.2, the girl everyone called "the Sphinx" behind her back because she was basically uncrackable. Enigmatic. Untouchable.

And she was holding a tangled mess of cable in her hands.

"Your dad said I could grab this," Sarah said, not looking up from where she knelt beside the TV. "I need it for this documentary project."

"Since when do you talk to my dad?" The words slipped out before Maya could stop them.

Sarah finally looked up. In the glow of the TV's paused Netflix screen, she looked... tired? Like, actual human tired? Not Sphinx-perfect.

"Since his TA recommended me for this internship." A shrug. "Small world."

A flash of lightning split the sky beyond the window. Thunder rattled the house. Both of them flinched.

"Power's gonna go," Sarah predicted.

"Yeah, well." Maya gestured vaguely at the cable still clutched in Sarah's hand. "That's my lifeline right there."

"Your what?"

"My—" Maya stopped. Why did she feel like she had to explain herself? "My raid night."

Sarah's eyebrows went up. "You game?"

"Why does everyone sound so surprised when I say that?"

"I don't know." Sarah's voice softened. "I guess I just... I always thought you were, like, really quiet in school."

"Yeah, well." Maya's fingers found the hem of her oversized hoodie. "Maybe I'm just quiet in school."

Thunder crashed closer. The TV flickered once, twice, then—darkness. The router's lights died. Her Discord call would have dropped.

Maya swore softly. "There goes my Friday."

"You know," Sarah said into the dark, "my brother games. He's always complaining about how toxic his teammates are."

"Yeah?" Maya's eyes adjusted to the dim emergency light filtering through the window. Sarah was still sitting cross-legged on the floor, the cable now forgotten beside her. "Well, my team is pretty chill. Except Leo, sometimes."

"Leo who?"

"You know him. Debate team? Guy who thinks he's gods gift to cross-examination?"

Sarah snorted. It was the most un-Sphinx-like sound Maya had ever heard. "Leo? Are you serious?"

"What?"

"We've been debating each other for three years and you never told me you game?" Sarah shook her head. "I've been looking for a team that isn't... you know."

"Toxic?" Maya supplied.

"Exactly."

Lightning flashed again, illuminating Sarah's face—grinning now, actually grinning, not that polite Sphinx-smile she wore in the halls.

"What's your handle?" Sarah asked.

"What?"

"Your Discord. Your gamer tag. Whatever."

Maya blinked. Was this happening? Was the Sphinx asking for her Discord? "Um. NeonPhoenix99. Don't laugh."

"I wasn't going to." Sarah pulled out her phone,屏幕的荧光照亮了她 unbeweaveably perfect eyebrows. "I'm QuantumRaven. And that cable?" She gestured to the forgotten ethernet cord on the carpet. "I'll return it Monday. But first..."

She held out her phone.

"Add me?"

Maya's hands were shaking as she typed in her username. This wasn't how Friday nights were supposed to go. She was supposed to be raiding, supposed to be carrying, supposed to be just another faceless voice on Discord.

Instead, she was trading Discord handles with Sarah Sphinx Chen in the dark while lightning turned the sky electric and her teammates probably thought she'd rage-quit.

"First raid tomorrow," Sarah said, pocketing her phone. "7 PM. I'll bring my own headset."

"Deal."

As Sarah walked out into the storm, Maya stood in her darkened living room clutching the ethernet cable. Something about the Sphinx had unraveled tonight. And Maya's perfect Friday night? She'd accidentally started something better.

She grabbed her phone and texted her squad: brb. Found us a ringer.

Leo replied almost immediately: About time u finally made some friends.

Maya rolled her eyes. But as another flash of lightning illuminated her grinning reflection in the dark window, she had to admit—he wasn't exactly wrong.