so Lucas will be in this chapter!! yay, are you excited? I'm excited.
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T W O
[ m a y a ]
RILEY'S WORDS HAD STUCK WITH ME FOR THE ENTIRETY OF FIRST PERIOD ART CLASS.
Ms. Kossal kept telling me to pay attention, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, because I was too focused on what she said—Lucas felt something from the kiss, which I definitely didn't expect to happen. I didn't even mean to kiss him, it just sort of happened. It was in the heat of the moment, it wasn't purposeful, or even particularly enjoyed.
Okay, so that was a lie. Yes, I really did enjoy the kiss with Lucas, but I didn't want to enjoy it. I was perfectly prepared to say something along the lines of, "Learn how to kiss, Huckleberry!" and then pair that with a hahurr! before heading off. But that wasn't how it went at all, because like Lucas, I also felt something. Riley was being too nice to me after what I did to her, and I just didn't understand at all—she should've hated me. I definitely hated me.
I was headed to my second period, which I figured would go very bad at some point—history with Mr. Matthews. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that Lucas would be in that class, because he'd always had a habit of being places where I didn't want him to be, which was definitely going to include Mr. Matthews's class. Aside from that, I knew Cory was going to lecture me on running away.
Riley spotted me as I was walking down the hallway, and she rushed over to me, her canvas tennis shoes making scuff marks on the floor. At first I thought she was going to yell at me, but a small smile pulled onto her face as she approached me. I sighed of relief.
"Hi, Maya," she said. "Are you going to my dad's class?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
"Me too," she informed with a nod of her head. "I can tell you're nervous, Maya—but you'll be fine."
"Easy for you to say," I mumbled, but I think she still caught it.
It was silent for a moment, aside from the noise our shoes made against the floor of the school hallway. Then, "I know this is hard for you, but everybody misses you. We're glad your back, Maya."
I didn't understand why she wasn't mad at me, but then again, I wasn't really complaining. It was nice knowing that she and I could still be friends, even after what I did to her—nobody besides Riley Matthews would've ever forgiven for doing such a thing. I was thankful to have her as my best friend.
I jerked to an abrupt halt when I reached the open door of Cory Matthews's history class. Riley must've noticed, because she stopped as well, sending me a look of concern as she lightly drummed her fingers against the back of one of her textbooks, which were clutched tightly against her chest. I tapped my foot on the ground, biting my bottom lip hard enough to draw blood and gingerly eyeing the door.
"You know, I think I might just cut class," I said. "See you around, Riles."
I was perfectly content with chickening out as I turned on my heels, beginning to head towards the exit as fast as I could. However, I barely made it one step away from Matthews's history class as Riley grabbed my wrist, preventing me from going any further. I muttered a string of complaints under my breath, releasing a sigh and turning to look at her.
"Can I tell you a secret, Maya?" she wondered allowed, tilting her head to the side.
I cocked an eyebrow, saying, "Um, sure..."
"If I'm being completely honest, I used to think that if I ever saw you again, I'd hate you," she informed, a pang of guilt taking over my chest. "But now that I did see you? I'm not mad. You were—you are—my best friend, Peaches, and I'm not going to let some silly guy get in between a lifelong friendship. I know you never planned to kiss Lucas."
I couldn't stop the smile that etched onto my face upon hearing her say that. "You're not mad?"
"Oh, believe me, I was mad," she answered. "But not any more. And if I can forgive you after that incident, I know that everyone else can, too."
"It's not that simple," I replied, biting my lip again.
"I know it's not," she said with a quick nod. "But you're not getting out of this. You and me, Maya. Taking on the world. Together."
I squeezed my eyes closed, nodding my head and saying, "Together."
I thought we were having a whole best friends moment that was very important to the universe, but then I realized that Riley was just using that to distract me—even though she did mean it all. While I had my eyes closed, I felt myself being yanked forward, a gasp escaping my lips as I did so. And when I reopened my eyes, I saw the familiar History classroom, Cory Matthews at the front.
"Hart?" he asked in disbelief.
I mustered up a small smile, mumbling, "Hey, Matthews."
"You're..." He trailed off for a moment. "You're back?"
"I'm back," I repeated. "I'll just take a seat in the back of the room."
Before I could move even a few measly centimeters, Cory's voice cut me off. "No! I mean, no. Sit in your old seat at the front of the room. I want things to be the way the were before... Well, you know."
Way to announce it to the whole dang class, Curly.
"Yeah," I said instead of the harsh thoughts about his statement that swarmed my brain. "I know."
With that, I looked down at the floor, not bothering to see who I'd be sitting in front of—I mean, it'd been four years since middle school. There was no way I was still sitting in front of... He-who-shall-not-be-named. I sighed, dropping my books atop the desk and plopping down into the seat that I used to sit in before I left. I felt slightly calm.
But when Riley sat next to me, I was no longer content. If she was sitting in her old seat, and I was sitting in mine, did that mean... No. It was just a coincidence. There was no way that Ranger Howdy-Doody Roy was sitting behind me. No way.
"Lady!" a familiar voice exclaimed, and I frowned, realizing that it was coming from the owner of the voice's old seat, the one behind Riley where he always used to sit.
I turned anyways, smiling at him. Then, "Farkle!"
"I'm glad your back, Maya," he told me with a grin. "It's good that you're here. I'm happy."
"Me too, Farkle," I said, which I wasn't entirely sure was true or not. Even so, I shot him another smile, turning around in my seat to face Mr. Matthews.
I still hadn't checked the seat behind me, because I knew it couldn't have been him. It just didn't make any sense—there was no way it was him, and I was sticking with that story.
"Maya."
Shoot.
Why did the universe hate me?
I thought I'd done good by gaining enough courage to come back to school, so why was I being punished for doing so? I was just going to pretend that the voice I heard didn't belong to him. No, actually, I was just going to pretend that I didn't hear a voice at all.
"I can't believe you're back."
You win, universe. You win.
I apathetically craned my neck, squeezing my eyes closed and hoping not to see him. In my head, I kept telling myself that it was just my imagination playing the voice that I'd recognized as his for so long, telling myself that it wasn't Lucas Friar. It wasn't him. But when my eyes opened, and they fell upon a pair of very familiar green ones, I knew I couldn't pretend it wasn't true any longer.
"Hi," he said, smiling softly at me.
I forced a smile in return, keeping a tight grip on the hem of my dress down by my thighs. "Hi again, Huckleberry," I replied. "Long time no see."
"When did you get back?"
"Couple weeks ago," I answered with a quick nod. "Why?"
His smile vanished, and in its place, a frown formed. "You never let me know you were in town."
And then, I couldn't help but scoff.
"What was I supposed to do?" I spat in anger. "After what happened last time we were together, you expected me to waltz up to your doorstep like we never kissed? While you were still dating Riley?"
"Maya," he said in a highly warning tone. "Maybe we can talk about this after class?"
"Good idea, Friar!" I replied, a sarcastic smile laced with so much venom playing at my lips. "Ooh, here's a better one! Why don't we just not talk about it at all?"
And with that, I turned back around, pretending that the entire class wasn't watching, and pretending that what I'd just said didn't make me feel bad.
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so there was Lucas in this chapter, yay! The next chapter is going to be when Cory announces the project to the class.
[ unedited ]
xoxo, Jenna