The Sphinx's Papaya

Leo stood in front of the school's annual Creative Writing Fair display, staring at the papier-mâché sphinx some sophomore had crafted. Its googly eyes followed him everywhere.

"Nice, right?" said a voice behind him.

Leo turned to see Maya, the girl from his AP English class who always sat in the back wearing headphones. Up close, she had this tiny crescent moon tattoo behind her ear.

"It's looking at me like it knows my secret," Leo said, then immediately regretted it. Why did he always say awkward things around pretty people?

Maya laughed. It wasn't mean-spirited. "Sphinxes are all about riddles. What's your secret?"

Leo hesitated. His best friend had moved to Seattle two months ago, and Leo had been eating lunch alone since then, scrolling through Instagram photos of Kai living his best new life while Leo sat awkwardly at the edge of the cafeteria. Some friend he was.

"My grandma thinks papaya is a personality test," Leo finally said. "She says if you don't like it, you're not ready for the real world."

Maya's eyes lit up. "No way. My abuela says the same thing about avocado."

They ended up skipping the rest of the fair to get boba tea. Maya showed him her sketchbook filled with drawings of mythological creatures eating modern food—a mermaid holding a bubble tea cup, a dragon taking a selfie.

"I'm Leo, by the way."

"Maya. Obviously." She grinned. "So, do you like papaya?"

Leo thought about it. About his grandma rubbing lime and chili on the orange flesh, about how he'd always refused it because it felt too... visible. Too ethnic. Too much like wearing his heritage on his sleeve at a school where most kids brought sandwiches to lunch while he unpacked containers of rice and beans.

"Actually," he said, "I've never really given it a chance."

Maya nodded like this made perfect sense. "The sphinx would approve. Admitting what you don't know? That's the first step to solving any riddle."

Leo smiled. Maybe Kai wasn't gone forever—maybe he'd just moved to Seattle. And maybe Leo was ready to stop sitting at the edge of the cafeteria, ready to try papaya, ready to let himself be seen.

"Hey," he said. "You want to come over this weekend? My grandma makes this papaya smoothie with lime and honey. It's actually kind of life-changing."

Maya's grin answered before she did. "Only if you let me draw you and the sphinx having a smoothie together."

"Deal."