Harley sat outside of Mr. Matthews' classroom and took pictures of students, walking by, talking etc. Several students came up to Harley and asked to have their photos taken for the yearbook.
"Hey, dinosaur boy," Maya Hart greeted him.
"Hey," Harley said, lifting his camera up and focusing on a group of students. "Where did dinosaur boy come from?" he snapped several photos of the pictures.
"I don't know," Maya admitted. "You just come off as someone who'd like dinosaurs. Or be in a movie about dinosaurs."
"Like Jurassic Park?"
"Yes, like Jurassic Park," Maya smiled as Harley turned his camera and let it hang around his neck.
"Well, you're not completely wrong," Harley admitted.
"Really?" Maya asked, getting caught off guard.
Harley nodded. "I was obsessed with the Jurassic Park movies when I was a kid," Harley explained.
Maya bit her lip and Harley instantly regretted telling her this piece of information.
"Oh, god, you're gonna make fun of me about this aren't you?" Harley said.
She smiled and Harley knew it was a yes.
"Oh, god," he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose and leaning back against the bench.
He looked back at her.
"Please, don't," Harley begged her.
"No promises," she smiled.
Harley groaned.
"Where's Cassie?" Maya asked. "Aren't you always with her?"
"Yeah, but she has those play rehearsals," Harley said. "Where are Gabe and Riley? Aren't you always with them."
"Yeah, well," Maya said, "Gabe got held back because of his sister and Riley is talking to her dad."
"And you're not with her because...?" he said, waiting for her to answer.
"Apparently it's some private matter," she shrugged, "something I can't know."
"Oh," Harley said. "What about Farkle Minkus? Or Lucas, Zay and Caleb? Or Smackle"
"Farkle is an extra in that play," Maya said. "And the guys are doing some sports related stuff. And have you met Smackle?"
"Good point," Harley said, referring to Smackle.
"So, all of our friends busy," Maya said, leaning back against the bench.
"Uh - huh," Harley agreed.
"So, new kid," Maya said, looking at Harley, "what do you want to do?"
Harley shrugged. "I don't know. And reminder, we're all new kids in high school."
"Yeah, well, I've been going to school with pretty much the same people since elementary school," Maya reminded him. "We may be new to high school, you're a new kid to our grade."
Harley didn't say anything.
He took a deep breath.
"Are you coming to the bakery after school?" Maya asked. "With the rest of us?"
"Probably," he shrugged, looking at her, "if you guys want me to come."
"Of course we want you to come," Maya said. "You're our friend, right?"
"Yeah," he nodded.
"Then you're coming," Maya said. "You and Cassie if she doesn't have rehearsals."
Harley nodded.
***
After school ended that day, Maya grabbed Harley's wrist and dragged him to the bakery, making sure he came and didn't ditch them last minute.
"Can you let go of my wrist now?" Harley demanded when they finally got to the bakery.
"Yes," Maya said, letting go of him.
"Thanks," Harley said, rubbing his wrist. "Where are the others?"
He looked around at the tables, but none of their friends were there yet.
"Oh," Maya said, her face dropping realizing that they weren't there.
"I guess we left them at school," Maya said.
"I guess so," Harley agreed.
He got a few texts from Cassie, asking where he disappeared off too as well as a few texts from his mother and James.
"Yup, Cassie is on her way," Harley informed Maya as he responded to his best friend's texts. "So are the others," he added.
Harley began responding to his mother's and James's texts as he sat down at the group's usually spot.
He dropped his backpack next to him, reading his mother's response.
Maya sat next to him and glanced at his phone.
"Who're you texting?" she asked.
"My mom," Harley said.
"If you - if you don't mind me asking," Maya said, "but what happened to your dad?"
"Oh, um," Harley hesitated.
"I completely understand if you don't want to talk about it," Maya said.
"I, uh," Harley said, "this piece of information has to wait."
Maya nodded, understandingly.
"Speaking of fathers," Harley said, "what happened to yours, if you want to talk about it."
"He left my mom and me when I was little," Maya said.
He looked at her, finally.
"It was just me and her for years," Maya said.
"I'm sorry," Harley said.
"It's fine," Maya shrugged.
Despite her not showing it, Harley knew what she was feeling. It was obvious to him that even though it happened a long time ago, being abandoned by her father still affects her.
"So, um -" Maya began.
Right at that moment, their friends finally showed up.
"Where did you guys go off too?" Riley demanded. "You two just disappeared."
"Yeah, Maya," Harley looked at Maya with a smile on his face, "where did we go off too?"
Maya glared at Harley.
"Just making sure that Harley didn't ditch us," Maya shrugged.
"And I ditched everyone but you in the process," Harley pointed out.
Maya glared at him again and this time, she punched him in the arm.
"Ow!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, did it hurt?" she mocked him.
"Yes, it did," Harley said.
"Oh, too bad," she continued to mock him.
Cassie looked between the two.
Harley noticed the expression on her face.
"I'm, uh, I'm gonna order something," Harley said, getting up.
"Yeah, me too," Cassie said.
She dropped her backpack next to Harley's and followed Harley to the counter.
"What's going on between you and Maya?" Cassie asked.
"What do you mean?" Harley said, turning around to face Cassie.
"You know what I mean," Cassie said. "Is there something going on between you two?"
"I have no idea," Harley shrugged.
"Do you like her?" she raised her eyebrow.
"I don't know," Harley shrugged. "She seems... I don't know."
Cassie stared at him, biting her lip.
"Can we not talk about this?" Harley requested. "Please."
"Fine," Cassie gave in.
Harley turned to order.
Harley and Cassie placed their order and went back to join their friends and joined in their conversation.
A few minutes later, the waitress, Katie, who is also Maya's mother, brought Harley and Cassie what they had ordered and the two thanked her.
The group spent the entire afternoon at the bakery, working on their homework and hanging out.
Once it started becoming dark outside, Lexi began texting Harley to come back home and pick up Peter from his friend's apartment on his way home.
"I, uh, I gotta go home," Harley said, looking up from his phone.
"Already?" Riley said, disappointedly.
"Yeah, sorry," he said. "I need to pick up my brother and... I'll see you guys tomorrow at school."
Harley packed his things and said goodbye to his friends.
Harley put in his earphones and began listening to music from his phone as he headed to pick Peter up and head home.
Lexi was home when Harley and Peter got home. They found her at the dining table, with papers scattered across the table as she went over all of her contracts and paperwork.
"Hey, Lexi," Harley greeted her.
"Hi," Peter said.
"Hey, guys," Lexi said, glancing up at them.
"Where's Mom?" Peter asked, noticing that Elizabeth wasn't home.
"Did she come home yet?" Harley raised his eyebrows.
"She's still on set," Lexi said.
"Oh," Peter said, disappointedly.
"I'm sure she'll be back home," Lexi assured the 12 year old.
"Yeah," he said, sadly. "I'm gonna go to my room."
"Did you have dinner yet?" Lexi asked Peter.
"Yeah, I did," he shrugged as he headed to his room.
"Is he okay?" Lexi asked.
"He was fine when I picked him up," Harley shrugged. "I don't... I don't know what happened to him."
Lexi looked to Peter's bedroom door. She abandoned her work and headed into the bedroom to talk to him.
Harley took a deep breath and went into his bedroom.