Zombie Mode & Other Riddles

I was operating on pure zombie mode—third consecutive night of four hours sleep because Mr. Harrison decided AP History required a twenty-page research paper. On top of that, my mom had packed spinach in my lunch again, as if suddenly eating leafy greens would transform me into somehow more cooler.

"You look like you're dying," Maya said, sliding onto the cafeteria bench next to me. "Zombie apocalypse has nothing on you right now."

"Thanks," I muttered. "RIP me."

The cafeteria gossip tornado was swirling around Bear Williams, who'd apparently spent the weekend live-tweeting his disastrous attempt to ask Sophie to prom. His epic rejection had become the school's hottest content.

Maya's expression shifted. "Oh, by the way—there's this party tonight. At Jason's. His parents are out of town. You should come."

I stared at her. "Me? At a party?"

"Yes, you. At a party. It's not rocket science, Chloe." She grinned. "Besides, we need someone who can actually hold a conversation that doesn't revolve around Fortnite or whose dad makes more money."

The entire concept felt alien. I was the girl who sat in the back of every classroom, whose social circle consisted of exactly one person who was currently sitting right in front of me.

That night, standing in Jason's crowded living room with red solo cup in hand (flat soda, because hard nope on the actual stuff), I felt like I'd walked into an alternate dimension where somehow everyone knew the secret social script except me.

Then Bear Williams appeared, looking somehow smaller without his varsity jacket.

"Hey," he said. "You're Chloe, right? From AP Euro?"

My brain short-circuited. "Uh, yeah. Hi."

"Cool." He actually seemed nervous. "So, I heard you're into mythology? Like, the sphinx riddle stuff?"

I blinked. "How did you—"

"Maya told Jason, who told me." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I figured... maybe you could help me with my English presentation? I'm doing Oedipus and I'm basically failing."

I almost laughed. The sphinx. The riddle of what walks on four legs, then two, then three. The answer: a human, crawling, then walking, then leaning on a cane. Life phases, transformations, becoming who you're meant to be.

"Yeah," I said, feeling something in my chest shift. "I could do that."

Later, Bear texted me a selfie from the party—us grinning like dorks, fake mustaches drawn on our faces with Maya's eyeliner. The caption read: sphinx sisters? 😂

I saved it. Maybe high school wasn't all riddles without answers. Maybe sometimes, you just had to show up and figure out the walking part as you went.