game on | lucaya

t h r e e

Fortunately, I'm all better the next day. My mum's left me a note on the counter: Got to leave to work early today, have a good day at school today, honey, glad you're feeling better! Love, mom. Oh, and by the way, don't tell her about the whole casserole thing, I told her it was absolutely delicious. Come to think of it, maybe I got better because I didn't eat the casserole. Hm.

I get out of bed and proceed to shower. I shampoo my hair first. Fun fact: I use a different shampoo from my mother because we like different scents. I like pink lemonade and she likes cucumber and grapefruit. After my shower, I clamber out, dress myself and look myself in the mirror. Wait, I look a little different, but I can't really put a finger on it. Did the cold really affect me that much?

Outfit? Check.

Lip balm? Check.

That's when it hits me. Hard. My hair was absolutely pink. Oh my God. Has the shampoo expired that quickly? Panicking, I grab the shampoo bottle from inside the shower and read it. Hey Maya, I bet you look as badass as never now! Hope you like my little get well soon surprise! Love, Lucas. P.S. It's only temporary, don't worry, for a whole week!

What a prick. I can't believe he changed my pink lemonade shampoo to a girly pink hair dye. Even worse, I can't believe I haven't noticed. He was right, I'm so frickin' stupid. And it's not like I can wash this pinkness off my hair. Looks like it's staying with me for this week. So I pull my hair back into a tight ponytail and tuck all my hair back into a SnapBack. And not caring if it's a really hot day, I throw on a hoodie and put the hood above my cap. Yes, I know, I look like a gangster, but tell me that's not as bad as wearing a glittery unicorn sweater to match with a sparkly bow tie in my artificially pink hair.

When I go to school, Huckleberry is standing by my locker, smirking.

"I need to get my books."

He raises his eyebrows at me amusedly. "So?"

"So get out of the way," I deadpan.

"Or else what? You'll whip me with that scary pink hair of yours?"

"Or else this." I violently push him aside and punch in my locker combination.

"Intimidating." He snorts. "But not as intimidating as the pink hair you're hiding under there."

I scowl at him and fortunately for him, Riley comes smiling in an outfit that seems far more comfortable than mine: a bright tank top and skinny jeans.

"Maya, if you were sick, you didn't have to come to school today!" She frowns, eyeing my outfit.

"Well, Riles, you see, " I sigh, "your boyfriend here changed my shampoo to hair dye yesterday, so now my hair looks like bubblegum."

Riley gasps and glares at Lucas, folding her arms across her chest. "You're a jerk, Lucas! And he's not my boyfriend, I don't even like him."

He feigns shock and gasps with exaggeration. "I'm hurt, Riley, I truly am." And with that, he laughs and stalks away to homeroom.

"Now I think I understand the urges you feel to take revenge on him," Riley finally says before grinning at me, a mischievous spark glinting in her chestnut eyes.

Seven year old Riley had invited me to her house for a play date, something seven year old me wasn't quite familiar with. I didn't have a lot of friends at the time. People used to think I was scary, what with my tendency to punch people I didn't like. Come to think of it, I guess that's a valid reason to be afraid of me for. But on with the story, we hadn't been official best friends yet. We were just two seven year olds without best friends hanging out together. So you can imagine my surprise when Riley asks me to come to her house for a play date. Well, I wasn't exactly a busy girl so I agreed, much to Riley's excitement.

When I arrived at her house, she was jumping up and down with excitement. But when she saw me, she clambered down from the couch and darted over to my side, discreetly asking me if I wanted to play "spy". Of course seven year old Maya wanted to dodge bullets and punch people in the face, but unfortunately, "spy" was just a fancy name for hide and seek. Nevertheless, we had fun, giving each other the nicknames: Agent M and Agent R. But at the end of the play date, I saw a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, a cheeky grin plastered onto her cherubic seven year old face, her hands behind her back. Little did I know she was holding an entire bucket of water! Well, she splashed the entire thing onto my head and ever since then, we'd been inseparable. We were playground official.

"I hope you still have that spy clothing from that Mission Impossible phase back in middle school." I tease, punching her in the shoulder.

"Welcome back, Agent R."

"Glad to be back, Agent M."

We're back in the game, baby.

_____

a/n:

oooh riley's in the game now! never thought riley matthews would be a part of this, did ya? anyways, i like needed to include harry potter because it is my bae