Why are we even friends? Lucas wondered as he watched Tristan's mouth move.

Tristan continued to drone on- about a girl, about last night's game, about a party- and Lucas continued to pretend to listen to his best friend.

Why were they friends? Well, it was simple, he guessed. They were friends because of football in the winter, baseball in the summer. They were friends because, well, they had to be. Jocks hung out with other jocks. It's just the rules of high school.

They were not friends because they actually liked each other.

He hadn't had friends he actually liked in years. How sad is that? The last time he had friends- real friends- was the eighth grade, before it all fell apart.

Back then he had Riley, he had Farkle, and perhaps best of all, he had Maya. Back then, things were different. Back then, Maya didn't hang with the burnouts, Riley didn't hate him, and Farkle didn't pretend not to know him. Back then he depended on them, and he knew they depended on him too.

But that was then. This is now.

This is high school.

"Am I right, bro?" Tristan asked as he finished his story.

"Yeah, man." Lucas said automatically, although he had no idea if Tristan was right or not.

Tristan was tall and muscular. His dark brown curls fell in front of his eyes. He was the school's QB, which made him even more popular with the ladies.

Tristan smiled, playfully punching his friend in the shoulder before launching into another pointless story. Lucas, still not listening, allowed his eyes to wander the school courtyard. He set his gaze on Maya, who was leaning against one a red plastic picnic table taking a long drag of the cigarette in her hand. She was surrounded by her new group of friends.

There was Cassidy Mitchell, the girl who was suspended for a month for beating a girl to a bloody pulp in the lunchroom, Kyle Ashcroft, AKA the biggest stoner in the school, and Nick Gretzky, who was suspended for stealing the answers to a biology test.

He could see the giant grin plastered on her face as she talked animatedly to the group, laughing in between cigarette drags.

Why was she hanging out with these people? She wasn't like them. Sure, Maya was no angel, but she didn't belong with people like them. She was rough on the outside, but Lucas knew she was sweet, caring, and even soft on the inside.

Or maybe she wasn't. Maybe he didn't really know her as much as he thought he did.

They had once been very close, yes, but that was in middle school, and Lucas knew first hand how much people could change between middle and high school.

So maybe she did belong with people like them. He did not know for sure. It's not like they were friends anymore.

Their friendship tore when he and Riley broke up in eighth grade. He couldn't blame her, though. She had known Riley for years. He'd broken Riley's heart, after all. It was his fault.

But he couldn't help but resent his old group for leaving him completely friendless. Farkle had taken Riley's side too. Again, they'd been best friends for longer. But that didn't appear to matter to him now, as he completely abandoned Riley and Maya after middle school.

Riley and Maya were still friends, as far as he knew, but apparently Maya had other friends now. They obviously weren't as inseparable as they were just a year prior, as his ex girlfriend was no where to be seen at the moment.

Lucas was well over 6 feet tall now. He was handsome (his mom said), a hottie (his dates said), a great athlete (his coach said), bright (his teachers said), unhappy (he said).

The bell rang, signaling freshman lunch hour was over, and the students began heading inside the school. Lucas took one last glance at the petite blonde girl he once called his best friend. He watched her put out her cigarette as Nick wound an arm tightly around her waist. He craned his neck to watch her and her group of friends walk off school property, presumably ditching school. He shook his head. Why was she getting herself mixed up in all of that? She was so much better than those delinquents.

"Dude," Tristan said loudly, waving a hand in Lucas's face.

"I'm listening." He grumbled as the two started to walk inside the school.

"What the fuck are you looking at?"

"Nothing." He said, rolling his eyes. Tristan punched his shoulder once again.

"Maya, huh? She's pretty hot." He smirked.

"Shut up."

"What? I'm just saying. She seems pretty easy, you might have a chance."

"Shut up!" He said, more force in his voice this time. Tristan laughed.

"Did I strike a nerve? Hate to break it to you, but she's totally doing that loser, Nick." He said as if he knew anything about Maya's life.

"You don't know anything. She's not..." He started, but gave up halfway through.

At that moment, he realized he knew just as much about Maya's life as Tristan did. How did it end up like this?