Piece By Piece (GMW Fanfic)

Part 4: Riley

I convince my mom to call the police.
The police search all over New York for Maya.
No trace of her at all.
For all we knew, she was in LA by now.
Mom still made me go to school.
My dad kept on telling me that it's okay, Maya wasn't that good of an influence anyway. I can't believe him.
It was horrible, even if I had been going to school for one week without maya.
At least then I knew she was safe at home.
Now... I have no idea.
Over the next few weeks, still no sign of Maya.
My grades started slipping.
Farkle, Lucas and Smackle tried to comfort me.
I just shrugged them off.
I just couldn't stop thinking about what my dad had said about Maya.
Yeah, I know she had been acting out lately but still, she's...Maya.
I was lost in thought in my dad's class when Farkle tapped my shoulder.
I looked at him. "Riley" he said, pointing to my dad.
I looked over to him. "Riley, can you answer the question?" he said.
And for some reason, I burst.
I stood up immediately, causing my chair to fall and my desk to shake.
All my papers also fell to the floor.
"No, I cannot answer your question, because I wasn't listening and because I don't care. Who cares about this stupid lecture? Since you don't care about me, I don't care about you. You don't know how much Maya means to me, you just keep pushing her away. By pushing her away, you're pushing me away. Why would you say things like that about her? She already ran away! Are you trying to make things worse?! If you don't care about my feelings, maybe I'll just leave too. I'll run away. Maybe I'll just leave now!"
I hadn't realized by at that point, I was shouting.
Tears started to slip down my face.
My dads face couldn't even be described.
All of my classmates were staring at me with shocked expressions.
But for some reason, I actually didn't care.
I didn't even give my dad time to speak.
I walked to the door and opened it. It slammed.
I started to run, and at one point I tripped.
I fell on the floor, then the bell rang.
A few minutes later, I felt myself being pulled to stand up.
By now I was crying so hard, I couldn't see clearly.
When my tears cleared up, I was standing in the girls bathroom.
"Riley?"
I looked towards the direction of the voice. Smackle.
"Oh, hey Smackle"
She had a look of concern on her face.
"Riley..."
I looked at her then in the mirror.
I had never seen this side of myself before.
My Maya side.
I couldn't begin to tell her how sad I felt. It felt really depressing.
I don't know how much of this Maya could take.
No wonder she ran away.
She reaches out and hugged me.
I hugged her back.
She understood, I could tell.
"Smackle, do you think I, turning into Maya?"
She stepped back and looked at me.
"Look, you're Riley and you always will be. Maybe it's just a phase, you know?"
Then I turned to the mirror.
I had no idea what to do.
But then I began thinking about what Maya would do.
Then it was like lightning struck.
I wiped the tears and put on a brave face.
Then I faced Smackle.
"What if that's a good thing? I ask her.
She was caught off guard and looked very confused.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, what if I should turn into Maya?"
She stared at me for a long time before answering.
"And why would you do that?" she finally asked, quietly.
"So I could find her."
And a look of understanding came onto her face.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea"
"What if it's the only way to find her?"
"What if you go in too deep?"
"She'll pull me back"
"And if you don't find her?"
I pause to think about that for a moment.
Then I make up my mind.
"Well, then it's a risk I'm willing to take."