"Maya..." Riley groaned. "What are you doing?"

"What I always do, Riley." Maya replied, peering her head over the sill of the window and at Riley's father, who was also their teacher. Cory was cleaning up his desk, preparing to leave school for the rest of the day. Maya tapped on the window and Cory looked up. He walked over to the window and opened it up.

"Girls," he mumbled. "Just what do you think you are doing outside, at the end of school? And at my classroom window, at that!"

Riley opened her mouth to speak but Maya cut her off. "I want to retake the test, sir." she told Cory, looking at Riley, who was smiling stupidly at Lucas, who was smiling back at her. Maya rolled her eyes.

Cory frowned when he noticed his daughter staring at the boy. He moved so that he was blocking Lucas from his daughters sight. "And what made you suddenly decide you want to retake a test, Maya." he paused. "My test, of all tests, at that." Cory leaned against the window sill. He looked over at his daughter, Riley, who was shuffling her feet. "Go home, Riley. I think it is best that Maya and I were left alone while we talked."

Riley let out a groan. "But daddy...!"

"No buts Riley," Cory said. "Go home now, or you are grounded."

Riley let out a grunt and flung her bag over her shoulder and walked away, casting a worried glance at her best friend. "Pick me up tomorrow?"

"You bet I will." Maya replied with a forced smile. Riley let out a sigh of relief and disappeared around the corner of the building.

"Maya..." Cory said slowly. Maya gave him a look and he quickly closed the window so that the blonde girl couldn't climb through it.

"You give me too much work, sir." Maya grumbled, moving away from the closed window.

"So, Maya," Cory started when Maya entered his classroom. "Why do you really want to be in my class after hours?"

Maya cast a glance at Lucas, who was working hard on the test now that Riley was gone. "I don't want to go back home, sir." she told Cory. "My father came home yesterday and ever since he and my mother have been fighting non-stop. I want to stay away from home as long as possible."

Cory let out a sigh. "Maya, avoiding problems isn't going to solve anything. You have to go home at some point in time. But," he quickly added when he saw Maya's sad expression. "In the mean time, you can stay here in my class. At least until 5." Cory looked up at the clock. "You have three hours, and then I am going home." He looked over at Lucas. "You heard me, right Lucas?"

Lucas looked up from his test and nodded. "Yes sir," he replied, nodding shortly. "Three hours."

Cory nodded. "Good." he looked over at Maya, who was staring at Lucas. "Why don't you go on now and take a seat, Maya? Don't want you having to stand the whole three hours, now do we?"

Maya shook her head. "Thank you, Cory." she told him before taking a seat next to Lucas. She swung her feet up and placed them heavily on the desk in front of her, boots caked with dried mud from outside. She reached underneath the desk and pulled out her journal and started to write.

After a few minutes of writing, she tore out the page and threw it at Cory. He looked up and shook his head at the girl, and she smiled at him. Maya looked back down at her paper and started to draw, all the while thinking of how she was going to get out of her most recent mess without Riley finding out her biggest secret.

Maya sighed and erased a line in her drawing, redrawing it so that it looked neater than before. She looked up at the clock. 4:55. Five more minutes. Maya looked down at her journal, prepared to put it away, and stopped short as she saw what she had been drawing.

Oh no. She thought.

On her paper was a drawing of Lucas. A rougue sketch of him and his features, but a drawing nonetheless.

O-oo-ooh n-oo-oo...

Maya tore out the page and ripped it to shreds, dumping the pieces in her pocket so that she could burn them later. She jumped as Cory dropped his book on his desk.

"Time's up!" he called, motioning to Lucas. "Bring up your test." he told him. Lucas did as instructed and got up, test in hand. He handed it to Cory.

"I'll come back tomorrow again to finish it up, sir. I got stuck on a problem and left it after awhile." Lucas explained.

Cory looked at the test and nodded. "Very well then," he told Lucas. He set the test down. "I'll see the two of you tomorrow."

"You bet you will." Maya grunted, getting up as Lucas reached the door. He flashed her a smile and her heart melted.

"See you tomorrow, Maya." he said before exiting the classroom.

Oh no.