Rebels, Royals and the Reader

Chapter 19

All of us looked up at the direction in which she left, surprised.

"What was that about?" Riley asked.

Brandon took a breath, glanced in the direction in which Maya left and spoke. "You want to know why Maya is actually so fast Lucas, are you really curious as to why someone who honestly doesn't give a shit about anything to with school has the most stamina? It's because she has to be fast, she has to be able to run and keep on running. Her neighbourhood isn't exactly welcoming and more than once Maya had to make her way home running, just to remain unscathed. And Katy, her mother, doesn't want to live their either but ever since Maya's no good father left - money has been tight . That's why she left, because she can't afford to pay."

Brandon's words weren't even cold when Lucas ran off to find her.

"Oh Maya."

I was without words as well.

"I think I may have a solution to this problem," Zay vocalized.

After he finished explaining all of us had to admit, it was a pretty good idea.

We texted Lucas with what he had to do and I went home thinking about how exactly I was going to get my part of the plan done.

Afterwards I settled on asking my dad if he knew any associates who were currently interested in purchasing a painting.

He gave me the numbers of a few people and after getting the pictures from Lucas, I set to work.

A few minutes in I heard a knock on the door, followed by a smiling Riley walking in.

I felt an unexplainable tingling feeling in my stomach as I saw her.

"Hey, I wanted to help," she announced as she took a seat next to me.

I gave her a smile, explained to her what I was doing and soon we were busy.

Our first few attempts were unsuccessful but we got lucky with Mr. Hopper, a renowned business executive and one of my dad's old classmates at Harvard.

He was interested in not one but two of Maya's pieces!

One painting and one drawing, he said they had a rawness to them that made him feel something, something real.

"Maya Hart, you are now $14 350 richer," I said as I walked into the detention room the next day.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, confused.

"Well my smooth talking and Riley's persuasiveness enabled us to get the highest possible price for your two pieces, the original price the buyer offered was $13 980 but we wanted to see how far we could take it, and I think we did good."

"YOU DID WHAT ?!" Maya growled.

She was upset, why was she upset?

"Maya, don't be angry. I explained to them why you ran off and they wanted to help, which they did. They didn't do it out of pity, they did it because they believe in your art and you and they genuinely wanted to help you. So no hissing fits or angry tempers because this is what friends do."

Everybody was quiet, all of us in shock that Brandon considered us friends. Weird.

"Those were private," Maya said, softly.

"They were great and they deserved to be seen and now they will be," Zay assured her.

"You, the paintings, the pictures," Maya started, looking at Lucas.

He looked down, guiltily.

"Thank you," she told him, pulling him into a hug .

Which the rest of us obnoxiously joined in on of course.

Actual. Squad. Goals.
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- Cassidy ➶