The Sphinx's Riddle

Maya pressed her phone against her chest like it held state secrets, which technically it did. She was supposed to be studying for Spanish but instead she was lurking on Jake's Instagram story again. Total spy behavior, she knew, but what could she do? The boy had posted a picture with his baseball team wearing that stupid orange jersey that made his eyes pop like nobody's business.

Her best friend Sam walked into Maya's room holding a sandwich like he'd just discovered fire. "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?" Maya minimized the app, but Sam caught her reflection in the mirror.

"You're being a sphinx. All mysterious and silent, guarding your secrets like you're ancient Egyptian royalty or something."

Maya rolled her eyes so hard she practically saw her brain. "I'm not being a sphinx. I'm being a normal person with normal privacy."

"Privacy? Please. I bet you're looking at Jake's story again. You've got the attention span of a goldfish when it comes to him."

He wasn't wrong. Maya's crush on Jake had been ongoing since seventh grade, which was three whole years of carrying around this orange-sized crush that made her palms sweat and her brain turn to mush whenever he was within a twenty-foot radius.

"Whatever," Maya said, because what else could she say? Sam knew everything. He was the person she'd told about her first period, her first kiss (which had happened at summer camp and was terrible), and her ongoing mission to finally talk to Jake before they graduated.

"You know what you need?" Sam set down his sandwich. "You need to actually talk to him. Instead of playing detective, you could just be a person and say hey."

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who's been in love since we were thirteen."

"Twelve. We were twelve. And it's not love, it's a crush. There's a difference."

Maya grabbed a pillow and launched it at him. He dodged, laughing. The thing was, Sam wasn't wrong about any of it. She had been hovering on the edges of Jake's life for three years, watching from afar like some kind of obsessed investigator. Maybe it was time to stop being a spy and start being brave.

"Fine," she said. "I'll talk to him tomorrow. At lunch."

Sam grinned. "Finally. You're not going to chicken out like last time?"

"No chicken-out this time. Scout's honor."

"You were never a scout."

"Details, Sam. Details." Maya's phone buzzed again. Jake had posted another picture. This time just him, no baseball team, no orange jersey. Just Jake looking like the kind of boy who could break your heart without even trying. Maya took a deep breath. Tomorrow. She would talk to him tomorrow. No more mysteries, no more secrets. Just Maya, being brave.

Finally.