Chapter 1 - Girl Meets High School (Part 1)

Maya could hear the loving discourse of the Matthews household even from outside the door. Riley was talking animatedly, and her parents were trying to calm her down. Maya smiled to herself, taking a deep breath before she walked through the door she knew would always be open.

'Morning,' she said, kicking the door shut with her boot as she strode over to the table. The family looked up at its surrogate member, all with smiles, but none bigger than Riley's.

'Peaches!' She said, throwing her arms so far open it seemed like they would snap off.

'Honey!' Maya copied her movement, and the two embraced at the awkward angle of Riley still sitting and Maya standing.

'Honey and Peaches go to high school!' Riley enthused.

'Maya,' said Topanga, sliding a plate of pancakes over next to Riley, 'breakfast.'

'Breakfast,' Maya said, letting go of Riley. She looked at the plate of pancakes resting on the place that had been set for her before she even arrived and smiled, before turning to Topanga. 'I actually already ate. My mom made me breakfast this morning. She wasn't late for work or anything. She just wanted to see me on-'

'Of course, Maya,' said Topanga, smiling broadly. 'That's great. Auggie, have at 'em.' The youngest Matthews launched himself at the plate before his mother had uttered her last syllable.

'You guys want a ride?' Cory asked them, sipping his coffee. Then he grinned. 'Cause, you know, I'm going to high school, too.'

'Yeah, we know, Matthews,' Maya said. 'Or should we say Feeny?'

'Feen-eh,' Riley said, bobbing her head.

'Fee-hee-hee-hee-eeneh!' Maya added, as both girls erupted in fits of laughter.

'Girls, if you want to take the subway, go now,' Topanga warned, tapping the face of her watch.

'Going.' Said Maya. 'Come on, Riles. Let's go before Feeny spoils today's lesson.'

Riley got up and the two hightailed it out of there before they got stuck riding into school with their teacher on the first day. Nothing about that sounded like it would make the right impression. Riley worried it would ruin her "street cred", even though Maya reminded her she'd never been to the proverbial street, and Maya was worried no one would be afraid of her if she turned up to school with someone who drove a hybrid and was prone to saying things like "I'm bringing sexy back".

They clattered down the steps to the subway, desperate to get out of the rain that had just started to pelt down.

'Great way to start high school,' Maya said, brushing off her leather jacket. 'Soaking wet.'

'Oh, lighten up, Maya. Things can only get better,' said Riley Sunshine, grinning at the commuters pushing past each other to get to the turnstiles. 'I have my subway pass, we look good, and we're going to high school. We're women now. High school women. Smart, sophisticated, and-' she fell. 'And apparently still super klutzes,'

'Hey, not everything can change at once, Riles. We wouldn't be able to keep up,' said Maya, trying to cheer her up as she helped her up.

'Some things have just stopped,' Riley said somberly.

And just like that they were back to Lucas.

He wasn't exactly a sore subject between the girls, mostly because they did their best not to make him a subject. Maya knew Riley had been talking to Lucas, because she'd seen her emails while borrowing the laptop, but she'd never mentioned it or asked after him. Riley hadn't mentioned him either. He'd gone to Texas just a few days after graduation, and since then, Maya and Riley had gone back to before they even knew him. They didn't discuss him, and whenever Farkle or Zay mentioned him, they changed the subject, both of them to spare the other the heartache. They were still sisters, but Maya knew that it weighed on both of them, after all these years, having something they couldn't talk about.

Maya, for her part, hadn't spoken to Lucas all summer. She'd studiously avoided his messages, and his emails. If he could cop out, she could too. If he could avoid the situation, so could she. Better than him, probably. Meticulously. Three times when she'd been hanging out with Zay he'd called. Zay said he was always asking after her, but she insisted he never know that she was there during the phone calls, and Zay, being the perceptive, all around great guy he was, hadn't said a word.

'Yeah, about that,' Maya said carefully. 'I figure it's all back to normal, right? Everything's stopped, just like I- I mean he, said.' She'd said once she wanted it to stop. She'd just never realized how much it sucked to be in this extended holding pattern. Like they couldn't move but the winds of change blew them further apart anyway. 'Hasn't it?'

'I guess. I mean, I still like him. And I know you do, too. But we're friends. We're all friends,' said Riley, as if she was trying to work it out. 'I mean, we're friends with him. You and me are sisters.'

'Sisters.' Maya agreed, reaching for Riley's hand as the subway doors flew open.

By the time they got to school, things felt so normal Maya had almost forgotten they weren't at JQA anymore. Until they walked through the double doors and everyone was bigger than them. And there was shouting, and more people than she'd ever seen in such a small space, and considering she lived in New York, that said something.

She and Riley stuck together as they made their way to their lockers, which, in some odd twist, were assigned by class instead of alphabet. So when they got to the freshman block, Farkle was already by his.

'Hey, guys,' he said, waving. He'd grown again over the summer, and was now officially legitimately hot. Even Maya had to admit it.

'Farkle,' Maya said as Riley hugged him enthusiastically, 'Where's the ladies?'

'I'm retiring that catchphrase,' he said, especially since I got one now,' And as if out of nowhere, Smackle appeared beside Farkle, smiling more than Maya had ever seen her.

She'd forgotten Smackle had decided to forgo genius school to go to high school with them. Apparently, she wanted more than just scholastic brilliance, she wanted real friends, too. She and Farkle as a couple were strangely...correct.

'Hey, Smacks,' Maya said, chuckling at Smackle's look of displeasure. Riley nudged her gently, reminding her that Smackle hated that nickname, but Maya maintained she'd get used to it.

'Lucas,' Farkle said suddenly, his eyes cast over Maya's head. She and Riley turned, and there he was.

He was tanned, his hair looked blonder, his eyes bluer, his shoulders broader. The situation seemed suckier than it had three months ago, and suckier even than it had three minutes ago, when he wasn't here.

'Hey, Farkle,' Lucas said, glancing at Smackle. 'I'm not gonna say hi to Smackle, because, well, I don't want her to accuse me of harassment,'

Smackle eyed Lucas cautiously, Farkle looked at Riley like she would break, and Maya looked at her friends, almost ready to scream.

'Lucas,' said Riley, breaking the silence. 'Hey.'

'How's it going?'

Riley frowned at his question, her lips beginning to purse.

'No, Hee Haw, you're supposed to say hi,' Maya told him, imitating that strange way he and Riley used to greet each other. It was a strange kind of exhalation. One she didn't feel, and had never felt. Certainly not with Lucas.

'Um,' was all Lucas could say, his eyes sliding to Maya as if he was nervous of her reaction.

'Go on,' she urged.

Lucas turned to Riley and cleared his throat. 'Hi,'

'Hey,' she replied, smiling.

'Hey,' Lucas said, smiling dutifully. Maya could tell he didn't find this amusing, only Riley's adherence to convention.

'Hi,' said Riley. She stared at him lovingly for precisely three seconds, and then straightened up. 'Okay, do it with Maya now,'

'What?'

'Say hi to Maya. It's not fair if you only do it with me, is it?' Riley insisted, leaning over and turning Lucas towards Maya. He was too close face to face, so Maya stepped back, sighing. 'Go on. Say hi.'

'Hi,' Lucas said easily.

'I don't wanna play.' Maya said, stepping away from both of them.

'But Maya,' Riley insisted, 'we're all friends.'

'I can be friends with Lucas and greet him a different way. Like,' she turned to Lucas, 'Wassup?'

Lucas seemed puzzled. Maybe it was her turn of phrase, but most likely it was because she hadn't spoken to him all summer, and now she was addressing him as if nothing was wrong, as if she'd seen him yesterday. Maya knew it was weird, but it didn't even make it on the top ten weirdest moments of the past year, so she pushed on.

'Anyway. Can we all get to class?'

'Yeah. My dad will be mad if we're late.' Riley said, leading the way. Cory had let both Maya and Riley into school last week so that they could familiarize themselves with the layout, so they knew where everything way already. 'Maya, where's Zay?'

'Don't know,' Maya said. 'He texted me at like, six this morning saying he was getting ready so I don't know why he's late,'

Only Lucas was confused by the fact that Maya knew where Zay was. He was the only one who hadn't witnessed their becoming close over the summer.

'Zay texted you?' He asked.

'Yeah. What, you think you're the only one with Zay's phone number?' Maya asked as they entered the classroom.

'I didn't even know Zay had a phone.'

The History classroom, at least, looked almost the same. It was the other way around, but it was the same. Two rows of seats sat empty for the gang of now six to occupy. Riley took her regular seat, but when Maya went to occupy the seat next to her, she noticed a name card on it.

'Farkle?'

'That's not my seat,' Farkle said.

'It is now,' said Cory, seated on his desk. 'Take a seat, Farkle. You're behind Riley now, Maya.'

'You can't tell us where to sit,' Maya protested.

'Yes, I can, Maya,' said Cory calmly. 'Sit down.'

'No.' Maya said. 'No, I ain't doing it. Two minutes in high school and you've already turned into a dictator.' What she meant was, why do more things have to change.

Cory looked at her in a way that made her feel measured, and a way that made him look not quite angry, but stern. Almost like a normal teacher.

Maya sat down.

'Mr. Matthews-' Lucas started, but Cory raised his hand.

'Sit down, Mr. Friar. Two seats behind Farkle. You're behind Mr. Babineaux now.' Cory said, nodding to Lucas's new seat.

Smackle took her seat behind Maya, and Lucas glanced at Maya on the way back to his. His expression told her what she already knew. He agreed with her, and he'd have fought for her, given the chance. It wasn't enough, but it was something.

'I heard a freshman totally beat up Karl Heskins,'

'I heard Karl's in the hospital,'

'Did you hear about that freshman? Luke something?'

'I know. He laid out a senior!'

The school was abuzz. Who could blame the students for talking about it. A freshman had apparently taken on a senior, and actually managed to do significant damage. If rumors were to be believed. Not that they were, necessarily. And Maya was having a hard time believing that Lucas had done that.

It had happened midway through History. Cory was talking about the French revolution. Of course he would be. A ruling class that had staved off any kind of change or adjustment as long as humanly possible. Whose platitudes and efforts to patch things up had cost them their lives in the end. That had been tough going.

But then Zay had texted Maya. He hadn't come to class, and no one knew why, but then Maya got that text. 911 get lucas. For better or worse, Zay had needed him, so she leant over to his seat and handed him her phone. He got up and left three seconds later. She had no idea how he'd found Zay, or how their bat signal usually worked, but by the time she got out of history class, the word was that Lucas had found him, and a notoriously nasty senior named Karl Heskins.

That much was probably true. The rest of it probably wasn't. Lucas wasn't Texas Lucas anymore. If he was, Mr. Matthews and Mr. Feeny were both wrong. And they weren't. She had more faith in them than that. She had more faith in Lucas than that.

Riley did not share this opinion. She'd found Lucas at lunch by his locker and they hadn't stopped bickering since. She asked him if he did it. He said he wouldn't answer that, because if she didn't believe him then his answer wouldn't count, and back and forth they went. Zay stood on the other side of the hallway, watching the exchange but forbidden to clarify anything, and Maya stood with him. It seemed they always took refuge together in these hard times. At least this time there was no hose.

'But Mandy told me!' Riley said vehemently, her hands now on her hips.

'So you'll believe some stranger, but you won't have any faith in me?' Lucas shot back. 'You won't believe that I'm a different person now, that I'm not that guy anymore?'

'I won't ask you to tell me,' Maya said to Zay, tuning out her arguing friends, 'But is he a different guy now?'

Zay glanced back at his old friend, and then back to his new one. He put an arm around Maya's shoulders, and she leant her head on his arm. 'You know the answer to that, Blondie,'

'Yeah,' she said, her eyes drifting over to Lucas, 'I do.'

No more than five seconds later, a brown haired girl Maya recognized from History class ambled over into her peripheral vision.

'Hey, what's up with them?' She asked in nasal voice, as if it was any of her business. Maya looked her over and decided this girl was going to be lippy. She could see it now, some lurking criticizer of the group dynamic who had semi regular cameos in the story of their lives. 'Is she having a fight with her boyfriend?'

Maya stiffened at the word, and Riley heard it. The whole hallway went quiet. Suddenly Riley and Lucas seemed to remember they weren't alone. Riley turned to Maya, guilt stricken, and Lucas turned to Zay with a strange expression on his face.

'Maya,' Riley said quickly, beckoning Maya over, 'You have to come fight with him too.'

Maya rolled her eyes. 'I don't wanna.'

'You have to,' Riley said, scurrying over and pulling Maya away from Zay and back towards Lucas. She pulled Maya to where she had been standing and positioned her to face Lucas. 'Go on,'

'I...' Maya said, glancing up at Lucas, who didn't look any more convinced about this idea.

'Lucas, yell at her,' Riley said, poking Lucas in the arm.

'Maya,' Lucas said finally, fixing his eyes on her. He was serious. The way he was in Texas. 'What do you think about this whole thing?' And she couldn't handle it. Again.

'Ha-hurr.' It was half hearted, and cold, and not even in the full on southern drawl she used to use, but Lucas understood it. It was her sidestepping, again, and he was mad. Don't look at me like that, she wanted to say, you sidestepped first. She turned back to Riley. 'Happy now? He's annoyed at me, too. Are we done here?'

She didn't wait for them to answer before she stormed off.

She thought Zay would follow her. Then she thought better of it, because she knew he probably had some snarky and useful wisdom about the nature of human condition to pass on to their friends. Riley and Lucas needed him. Maya needed...a freaking break.

She'd asked for it to stop. Lucas had said it would. But it didn't. It didn't stop it just...kept spinning. Just in the same place. And it was making her feel dizzy, and sick, and out of sorts. She had Lit class to think about, and she had to figure out a way to pass algebra without asking Farkle for help, but all she could think about was this stupid mess. Maya hadn't imagined a lot of relationships in her life, but in the few she had, she wasn't in a three-way with her best friend.

She opened her locker, and frowned. Why did she have to get a high one? She couldn't even reach the top shelf. Zay would have to get her books for her. And when he wasn't there she'd have to get a chair. Curse being short. Curse being Maya.

She put her head inside the locker and rested her cheek against the cool metal. Her breathing sounded louder, but the cold quelled the blush in her cheeks.

'That used to be my locker,' a voice said from out in the hallways behind her. 'I used to do that a lot, too.'