The past few weeks had been refreshing for Lucas, to put it simply. He and Riley were officially broken up, and the transition was smoother than he had originally anticipated. Things were still a little awkward, but at least they weren't as tense as when they were dating.
Riley was her sunshine-y bubbly self, they were able to converse as friends, even joke around with each other a little; the breakup was clearly long overdue. It was just a surprise to Lucas that Riley was the one to acknowledge it.
There was one major problem though.
Maya had put a gigantic wall between them. She came over for a reading discussion and was oddly quiet. When she did talk, it was only about the novel they were reading and nothing personal. Lucas just assumed that she was having a bad day and left it at that as he didn't want to pester her if she was already in a crappy mood.
But then Maya started turning the other way whenever she saw him in the hallways. It was then very obvious to Lucas that she was avoiding him.
"I'm gonna go to the cafeteria." Riley sprung up from the grass and dusted off the back of her pants.
The three—along with many other students were eating their lunch outside by the school garden, enjoying the sun after several weeks of gloomy, rainy weather. Farkle and Smackle were at some club meeting and Zay was off somewhere following around a junior he was trying to score a date with.
"What, why?" Maya glanced up, squinting at the sunlight where Riley was standing.
"I'm getting chocolate milk."
Maya hoisted herself up. "You'll probably need some help with that."
Riley chuckled, giving her an incredulous look. "What? No, I'll be fine. Just stay right there." She was already jogging back into the building before Maya could make a decision in her head.
Lucas picked at the grass and threw a handful at Maya, the pieces unsuccessfully blowing away in the wind. She plopped back onto her spot on the ground, not sparing him one glance.
"Maya, what the hell did I do?" Lucas asked, his frustration evident in his voice. "You've been acting really weird around me lately."
"No, I haven't."
"Yes, you have."
"No, I haven't." Maya snapped, her gaze darting up to meet his. There was a fiery glint in her eyes as she glared at him.
Well, at least he got her to look at him.
"Fine," Lucas gritted his teeth. He bit into his sandwich, munching aggressively. Maya made a humph sound and turned away from him.
Neither of them said another word after that.
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Miss Packer blew the whistle, waving her arm and signalling for the next team to come on. "Rotate!"
Zay released a sigh of relief, "Finally." He and the rest of his batch went to sit on the side, the bench creaking from all the weight. "That was the fourth time I got hit on the head with the volleyball." Maya snorted in amusement next to him. "Hey, why aren't you playing?"
"I used my period cramps as an excuse." Maya stated proudly with an impish smile.
"You girls are lucky," Zay shook his head, resting his elbows on his knees. "I had a terrible cold last month, and she still made me play."
"Nah, she just doesn't like you." Maya said, her eyes skipping from left to right as she watched the game.
"That too," Zay said before taking a big sip from his water bottle. "I don't know why though."
Maya lifted a brow at him, recalling a certain incident with his ex from the beginning of their sophomore year. "Hm, maybe it's because of that one time she sent you and Erica to get the tennis equipment—which the two of you took as an opportunity to fool around in the equipment room."
She almost began laughing, reminiscing the way Miss Packer had yelled at them in front of the entire class, disheveled clothing and all.
"Okay, a valid point. But why is she only giving me shit for that? I swear, she gives all the girls special treatment."
"Along with Lucas." Maya's attention drifted to the boy, who was currently serving, drawing back his arm before firmly striking the ball. The opposing team missed, earning his own team a point.
"Every teacher likes Lucas." Zay wagged his head. "Hey, speaking of Lucas..." Maya gave him the side eye, wondering where he was steering their conversation. "He told me you've been avoiding him recently, what's up with that?"
"I'm - I'm not avoiding him."
"Oh, really?" Zay teased.
"Yes, really." Maya narrowed her eyes, wishing that he would just drop the subject. She looked straightforward and had unintentionally caught Lucas' gaze through the net.
Zay stroked his chin, making a show of hard contemplation. "I just find it interesting how you and him were all buddy-buddy, but ever since he and Riley broke up, you guys stopped talking. Or rather, you stopped talking to him."
Another whistle pierced through the air.
"That's your cue." Maya grinned innocently, mentally thanking Miss Packer for saving her from an unsettling conversation.
"What? That went by way too quickly." Zay complained.
Maya playfully stuck out her tongue at him, leaning against the wall and enjoying her leisure time. Ah, the perks of having a vagina. Still, her cramps were particularly unpleasant that day and she had run out of midol. She should have asked for a hot bottle from the office.
"Hey," Lucas sat next to her, shuffling closer to make room for their other classmates on the bench.
Someone had taken the space on her other side so she was a little squished. Damn it, why couldn't their school invest in more benches?
"Hi," Maya replied unenthusiastically. She let her hair drape over the sides of her face, using that as a divider between the two of them.
Lucas ruined her attempts at ignoring him anyway and reached forward, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Sorry. It was bothering me."
"My hair was bothering you?" Maya asked monotonously.
Lucas shrugged. "I like a clear view of someone's face when I'm talking to them."
"We aren't talking though."
"Yeah, I know that."
Maya squirmed, growing irritated with her very limited space. She was literally sandwiched in between the tallest, biggest guys in her class. Who were both sweating profusely, might she add.
"I'm going to the washroom." Maya muttered, squeezing herself through. She could feel Lucas' eyes on her retreating figure as she walked out of the gymnasium.
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History whizzed by fairly quickly. None of them had gotten Mr. Matthews that year because sadly, all good things must come to an end. The teacher Maya had now would just project documentaries onto the whiteboard and assign homework from the textbook.
By the middle of class time, he'd be conked out at his desk and the students would be free to do whatever they pleased. Maya just took this time to sketch in her notebook and listen to some music.
After dismissal, Maya headed straight to her locker where Riley was waiting. "Hey, I can't go to your place right away because I'm gonna be working on my art project."
"Oh, okay," Riley paused, pursing her lips and tapping her foot. "Yeah that's fine. When are you going to be done?"
"An hour or so, I guess? I won't take too long." Maya unloaded her backpack, shoving books into her locker.
Riley waved at someone with a grin. "Just text me when you're coming, okay?" Maya hummed in agreement and Riley was off, catching up to her friend.
True to her word, Maya had completed her painting in an hour. Mrs. Chapman only kept the art room open for that long anyway. The project had already been due a few days ago, but her teacher allowed an extension.
"Remarkable, as always." Mrs. Chapman commented behind her. "I've never expected any less from you, Miss Hart."
Maya took a step back from the easel, then another, until she was standing next to her teacher.
"You should apply for the visual arts competition next month. It may be a little last minute but I'm sure there's still time."
"I'll think about it." Maya nodded. Though the idea of going up against the much older students, whom are way better, was completely nerve-wracking to her.
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The minute Maya had crawled through the bay window, Riley was ecstatic. She was grinning from ear-to-ear, and she was almost bouncing with every step too.
"Okay, what's up with you? You've obviously been itching to tell me something ever since I got here."
Riley clasped her hands together. "So, I did something."
Maya furrowed her brows, sitting up on the bed. "What did you do?"
"Now don't get mad at me," Riley started slowly, Maya tilting her head. "But I was talking to Josh the other day..."
"Oh no," Maya closed her eyes.
"And he wants to meet up with you!" Riley exclaimed, squealing with excitement.
"Riles, did you completely forget about what he did to me?"
"Don't you want to give him another chance?" Riley rushed to her side and took her hands, holding them gingerly. "Come on, Peaches."
Maya sighed. "I - I guess I could meet up with him." Riley did another squeal. "But this isn't a date, okay? So don't get your hopes up."
"Okay," Riley was still grinning wide enough her face just might split in half.
Oh god. What was she getting herself into?
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