ALEENA YORK hated most things. She didn't like the color blue and hated the way she cooked pasta. She didn't like how bone-straight her hair could get after a blowout and she hated the feelings that she had about Maya Hart.
She hated the way she laughed at nothing, she hated the way her hair laid over her shoulders, she hated how blue her eyes were, and she hated that she might not like her for who she was. She hated that. She wanted nothing more than to go back to square one and hate Maya Hart for the fact that she had somehow, someway made her history class about herself and her friends.
But she and Maya had been talking a lot. It didn't matter how they had been communicating for quite some time. For hours the two of them would just talk. They would talk about different forms of art, the clothes they liked, and the shows that they hated the most. Of course, they didn't agree on some things, but they had more in common than they could agree on.
And Aleena hated that. She didn't want to feel like she was in middle school again. She didn't want to put herself through that, not again.
So, she kept her distance from Maya in public. It sounded bad and Aleena knew that, especially since she couldn't find a way to hate the girl... other than the fact that she didn't want to go back to feeling like she was in middle school again.
"Probably the saddest book that I read and I heard that they were making a movie about it," Charlie said and flipped over onto his stomach to see Aleena with her back pressed against her bedroom door and her eyes locked on her phone. "Leens? You listening?"
"Sorry... What did you say?"
Charlie sighed and grabbed a pillow from her bed and chucked it her way. He threw it with such a heavy force that when the pillow hit her, her head hit the back of the door.
"What's your problem?" Aleena asked.
"You're my problem." Charlie sighed and shifted to sit upright. "What's up with you, Aleena?"
"Nothing." She answered. "I'm just distracted."
"Wanna talk about it... Talk about her?"
Aleena sighed and rose to her feet. She knew that out of everyone in the world, Charlie would be the one to figure things out first. That was her best friend. The Riley to her Maya. Someone who could spot her in the room without trying. He meant everything to Aleena and Aleena meant everything to him. But she didn't want to talk about anything, not right now anyway.
"No."
Charlie gave her a small smile and nodded. He stood to his feet and grabbed his backpack from the floor. "Well, whenever you want to, I'm down to listen."
Aleena returned the smile. "I know. Thank you." Aleena sighed, grabbing her bag as well. "And yes, I did hear that they were making a movie about-"
"Can we please stream it when it comes out?" Charlie asked. "I can already see how sad this movie is going to be. I can already feel the tears running down my face."
ALEENA FOUND herself, once again, sitting in history class with Mr. Matthews with the word 'Pompeii' written on the chalkboard.
"Pompeii." Mr. Matthews read. "Charlie."
Charlie looked up from his fingers and glanced at Aleena rather quickly before looking at Mr. Matthews.
"Me?"
Mr. Matthews nodded. "Yes, you. I know what you know." He smiled. "I want you to share your knowledge with the others."
Charlie furrowed his brows and Aleena turned in her seat. She gave him a small smile and he sighed, sitting up in his seat and clearing his throat.
"Pompeii was an ancient village in Italy located near Naples." He explained. "It was a resort town where the wealthy would relax and spend their free time."
Mr. Matthews nodded. "Thank you, Charlie."
"Pompeii sounds so beautiful, Maya." Riley smiled. "We should go there. We should go there and be calm."
Mr. Matthews laughed. "Let me tell you about a whole city that became very calm very quick. Now, who here knows about Mount Vesuvius?"
"Mount Vesuvius was a pent-up, boiling cauldron of I-wanna-do-somethin'." Maya smiled.
"Vesuvius sat quiet for a long time, but then it did what volcanoes in time must do. It 'sploded!"
Riley frowned, her brows furrowed with confusion as she looked at him. "Why does a volcano have to 'splode?"
Aleena smiled, leaning forward in her seat. "Because of the way heat moves beneath Earth's surface. But in this case, because it can and will."
"Vesuvius wiped out the entire population of Pompeii." Mr. Matthews continued. "It was one of the greatest natural disasters the world has ever known."
Riley quickly turned in her seat, slamming her hands onto Maya's desk. "Okay, then do it right now. Do what you need to do to be Maya, but please don't wipe us all out, Peaches."
"Yeah, Peaches." Aleena smirked, leaning in her seat. "Do what you gotta do."
Maya knew that Aleena was only making fun of Riley, but Riley didn't know that and she wouldn't let Riley know that, but Maya turned in her seat to look over at Aleena, their eyes locking with one another as Aleena held the smirk on her face. Maya sighed and bit her tongue before looking back at Riley, just as the fire alarm went off.
"That's it!" Riley cheered. "Oh, a fire alarm! Oooh, you sassy troublemaker! Fire alarm, everybody! Yes! Oh, my gosh! This is bananas!" Riley said, standing to her feet with the other students.
"Your blood pumpin'?" Maya asked.
"Oh, it's so pumpin'!"
"Good. I didn't do it." She said.
"Yes, you did." Riley insisted. "Okay, single file, everybody! Choo-choo! Everybody find a safety buddy. My safety buddy is Maya." She said, grabbing the girl's hand. "She exploded and now she's tired."
Maya held a tight lip and turned towards the others. "Um, I didn't do it."
"Yes, you did!" Riley argued. "But you can't do anything more for 3,000 years."
Soon, the PA cracked and their principal began to speak. " Hello, students. Sorry about that. A little glitch in the system. False alarm. Our mistake. Back to work."
Riley frowned. "You didn't do it, Maya the Volcano?"
"No explodey."
"Do you need a nappy?"
"Wide awakey."
"Well, you're gonna wipe out the whole village, ain't ya?"
Maya smiled. "And the neighboring town."
The girl returned to her seat and smiled over at Aleena. Maya Hart didn't know what she was going to do just yet, but when she did, she would explode... in more ways than one.
LATER THAT day, Aleena and Charlie made their way into Topanga's to try and study for a couple of tests they had coming up at school, but as soon as they walked in, they noticed that Maya's back had been towards them as she stood before Lucas and Riley.
"It gets me to like him." Riley said. "Do you still like him?"
"I don't know what I like anymore" She said, shrugging her shoulders.
That's when Charlie hit Aleena's shoulder, but he was 6 inches taller than the girl, so when he did hit her shoulder she groaned in pain and held it in her hand.
Aleena shut her eyes as she hissed in pain which caused the others (Lucas, Farkle, Riley, and Maya) to look their way.
Aleena sighed once more, opening her eyes as she stood upright and chose to ignore the eyes that stayed on her as she and Charlie made their way to one of the empty tables.
Farkle was the first to turn back, looking up at Maya as she kept her eyes locked on the girl.
"Whoa." Farkle muttered.
Maya looked down at him. "No "whoa." No "whoa" while I'm figuring things out."
Maya grabbed Farkle by the hem of his shirt, pulling him to his feet. As he wobbled, he bent his knees and placed a kiss on her nose.
"Whoa." Maya said quickly.
"We're getting older. These are gonna be more unpredictable." He smiled.
"I'm telling Smackle."
"I'm telling Smackle!"
"Maya?" Lucas called.
"I need to know who I am before I know what I like." She said.
Which she meant. It was a statement that had many layers, but she knew what she was talking about even if they didn't. She had a lot of self-discovery in the past couple of weeks and she wanted and needed to know who she wanted to be and who she truly was before she even thought about anyone in a romantic... more than what she'd already had.
"Hey," Maya's mother Katy called. "you know what's up with me? The cash register is short $100. So what's up with you? That's great. You know what's up with me? Who took my $100?" She asked.
"Just do it." Riley smiled.
"I didn't take the money." Maya said.
"Yes, you did! Maya, you took the money! She took the money, everybody! Yeah! She's a cat burglar!" Riley cheered as she ran over to Maya.
"I didn't do it." Maya said.
"Yes, you did. This is all over."
Aleena smiled, turning in her chair. "What if... and this is crazy, what if there's two fifties in the register."
Katy furrowed her bows in confusion and made her way back over to the register. She opened it with a tight lip and sighed heavily as she pulled the two fifties from the machine.
"Stay in school, kids."
Katy looked up from the register. "Are you Aleena?"
The girl only nodded. "Yeah. I remember you from Career Day in middle school."
Katy awkwardly smiled. "That is... one way to remember me." She chuckled before continuing. "She talks highly of you. She really does like you."
"Really?" Aleena asked.
Katy nodded. "I've never heard her talk about someone that wasn't Riley and her friends."
Aleena gave Katy a small smile and turned in her seat, but when she looked, Maya was gone.
— lucy has something to say !!
i'm so hungry bro it's not funny okay ski lodge next who clapped
bye :))))