"M... Mason..." My lips tremble and my vision becomes blurry.
"Maya."
"How is... Is this...wh..." I run my hand through my hair, causing it to fall over my eyes. I push it behind my ears and blink back my tears.
It's him.
He's standing right in front of me. Almost two years later and he hasn't changed much.
I've wanted this for so long and now I don't even know what to say.
"Mason." My voice cracks.
He does not say anything but I can see the pain in his eyes. His body remains stiff and his breathing quickens.
I look down at my pockets when my phone starts vibrating. I take it out and stare at the screen.
I look up at Mason before answering. I place the phone on my ear and clear my throat.
"Mom."
His face falls when I say the word and he gulps nervously.
"May, how are you doing?" My mom asks.
"I uh..." I look at Mason and more tears fill my eyes. "I'm okay, mom. I'm just..."
"Maya, is something wrong?" Concern fills her voice.
"Yeah," I look up Mason again, "I just have this speech I've got to make and I'm a little nervous."
"Okay," she releases a sigh of relief, "it's okay, sweetheart. You'll do great. Just take deep breaths and think about calm and relaxing things. You've got this."
"Thank you, mom." I smile.
"I love you, baby."
"I love you too, mom."
We hang up and I quickly turn to Mason. His face seems different; there's a different kind of pain in his eyes. They remain glued to my phone and I look down at it.
"Mason, we...what are you doing here? Where have you been all this time? Wh..." I sigh and look away.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I just..." his eyes drift to my phone once more. "I can't."
"You can't?" My voice breaks. "What do you mean you can't?"
"It's... I... We..." He runs his hand through his hair.
"No, you can't just mumble some words and apologise. You need to-"
"Maya! Maya!" Bianca calls out my name.
I turn to look behind me, where her voice is coming from. My eyes widen and so do Mason's.
"Oh, you're here..." the smile that was on her face disappears when he eyes land on Mason and her mouth falls open.
Her eyes move between the two of us and she tries to speak but no words come out.
I ignore her and turn to Mason. I cross my arms and look him in the eyes. For a second, memories start flooding back and I almost forget the hurricane of emotions I'm currently feeling. I just want to fall into his arms, feel the comfort of them again. I want to stare lovingly into his eyes and forget everything else.
No, Maya.
"Are you going to give me answers?" I cross my arms.
"Maya..." I see his reluctance and sigh.
"Bianca, let's go." I grab her arm and begin to walk away.
"What is he-" I glare at her and she shuts her mouth.
I ignore my trembling hands and how light my head feels and carry on walking.
***
Mason's POV
"Where were you?" Chris hisses as I take a seat next to him.
"I just needed a moment." My eyes remain fixed on the stage.
He nods. "Are you okay?"
I look at him for a second and nod, giving him a fake but reassuring smile.
I'm not okay. That could've gone better. Why didn't I agree to speak to her?
I shut my eyes and sit back.
It's just that, when she got that call from her mother, I remembered everything. I just got nervous and I remembered how her mother had stopped me from seeing her.
Even after I had said goodbye to Maya, I kept going back to the hospital. My mother and I tried to convince her parents to let us see her, to ask for their forgiveness but to no avail.
I freaked out when she was on the phone with her mom.
The audience erupts in applause and my mind returns to reality. Peyton thanks everyone and walks off the stage.
As soon as it's quieter again, my mind returns to that summer.
That was the worst time of my life. I was a mess, my mom was having distraught. I was always either at the hospital, the police station or in court.
We were receiving so many threats from all the people that had been arrested or were affiliated with The Man. We had to have the police guarding us every second of the day.
It was even worse when mom found out all the things her husband had been doing. She didn't want any of his money anymore and that meant financial problems for us.
She sold our house when The Man's trial ended and we moved away.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Chris asks. I realise that the second speaker is also done. I nod and give him an awkward smile.
The third speaker walks on stage. She gives the second speaker a small smile before standing behind the pulpit. She's the only one who has done this. The other ones didn't utilise it.
Her hair is now in a low ponytail, revealing all her beautiful features. She's gripping on to the pulpit and I notice how nervous she is. As if it weren't enough that she was nervous about speaking in front of these people, I had to go and bump into her.
She looks up at the audience and smiles. A bright and lively smile.
"Good afternoon, my name is Maya Banks." She begins and I sit back and listen, trying to suppress my own nerves.
***
Maya's POV
"That was a great talk." The girl I'm speaking to chirps. "I learned so much. I'll definitely start attending and participating in these events."
"That's great, I'm glad you found this helpful." I smile.
"Yeah, I didn't know the rape statistics in schools were so high. Some of those incidents you spoke about have happened to me or I've witnessed them and I didn't even realise it was wrong. You guys provided solutions for us with regards to so many problems. Psychological, social, sexual and financial."
"It's very important that we're equipped with this knowledge because we spent to much time in college."
"True," her phone beeps and she looks down at it, "I have to go, Maya but it was very nice meeting you."
"Likewise." I reply and we wave goodbye as she walks away.
"Maya." Peyton walks over to me with another girl.
"Where are Zoe and Bianca?" I ask.
"They should be here any second now." She looks around before focusing on me once more. "I want you to meet someone."
My eyes move to the girl next to her.
"This is Debbie," she smiles, "we went to middle school together."
"Oh," I smile at her, "it's lovely to meet you."
"Yeah, I liked your speech."
"Thank you."
"You're Maya Banks." She states and I nod, smiling with confusion. "I followed your case with Mark Coleman and his daughter Mary."
At the mention of those names, my smile falls and my heartbeat quickens. I start to become upset and I turn to Peyton.
"It's one of the cases I'm studying and I was hoping you could help me. It would be so great to get to speak to someone who was directly involved. I'm studying criminal law and-"
"Debra!" Peyton scolds. "When you said you wanted to speak to her I assumed you meant about her speech."
"Yeah but I'm more interested in-"
"No." Peyton eyes her up and down before grabbing my arm and walking away.
"Are you okay?" Her eyes widen when she notices how heavily I'm breathing.
I nod, trying to get my breathing under control. I feel beads of sweat form on my forehead and she helps me sit on the grass.
"Are you okay? Should I get you water? It's okay, Maya. It's okay."
"What's going on?" I hear Bianca's voice but don't bother to look up. I focus on trying to calm myself down.
"Someone upset her." Peyton replies. "May, I'm so sorry I brought her to you. I didn't know she would ask about your past. I didn't even know she knew. Do you guys have a water bottle?"
I want to tell her that it's not her fault, to assure her that I'll be okay but I can't. Instead I close my eyes and feel tears fall down my cheeks.
This is too much. Not all in the same day. I had to see Mason and that was a mess then that girl had to mention those two.
My breaths become shorter and I begin to cry even more.