Stars and Boulevards
I don't own Degrassi.
After the recent suicide storyline, I just got flooded with plot bunnies, so I'm debating which ones to feed. This is another idea I had in mind, so I thought I'd give it a shot, but I'm slightly less excited about it than my others…oh well. Let me know what you think!
Chapter 1
Maya Matlin let her eyes open at the sound of the alarm buzzing next to her. With a sigh, she turned it off, sitting up in bed. She looked around at her bedroom, seeing shade over the furniture and walls. It was going to be another dreary day.
Pulling her long, curly blonde hair into a ponytail, Maya climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom. As she looked in the mirror, she raised an eyebrow slightly before popping in her contacts. She stared at her tired reflection, taking in the same details she did every morning for the past six years.
After fifteen, the rest of high school had sort of faded into oblivion as Maya had finished her time at Degrassi. Before fifteen, Maya had pled her case to her parents about art school, but her efforts had gone to waste. But it wasn't all bad in the end. She'd made good friends in Tori and Tristan. And she'd met him.
Maya shook her head, dissolving the train of thought before it could go any further. She had a long day in Fairfax to deal with, and she did not want to start thinking of the friends she'd left behind in Canada or the person who'd left her behind in the largest sense of the word.
The routine was the same every morning. Wake up, brush teeth, put on crisp white shirt and black pants in preparation for whatever party she was working that day. Her final adornment, the hideous burgundy vest that she thought made her look like a bellhop, slipped over her shoulders and buttoned in front of her.
Maya measured her life in numbers. Seven years of practicing cello in anticipation of someday playing for a famous orchestra. One year at Degrassi to cement friendships and more. At fifteen, Maya Matlin had been happy. But what took years to build came crashing down in minutes with one desperate act by someone she held dear to her heart. Since that moment where she'd first heard the tragic news in the principal's office, everything had changed. Three years until she could leave the memories behind. Three years until graduation. And now, three years since she'd come to Los Angeles in search of the dream she once had to play music. If you were to tell fifteen-year-old Maya Matlin that, in six years, she would be twenty-one and working a thankless waitressing job in the neighborhoods of Los Angeles, she'd have scoffed and rolled her eyes in disbelief.
It had seemed like the best thing to do at the time. Her junior and senior years had been especially tough for her back home in Toronto. Junior year was the year the class of 2014 graduated, and someone was missing from the ceremony. And 2015, when her class graduated, someone was missing from the audience. Maya hadn't realized how much it hurt until she'd watched Tori embrace her boyfriend, a kind and gentle classmate that had befriended what was left of their little group the previous year. Maya had gone through the motions of the celebration parties, but with a final goodbye to her friends and family, had set off in search of a way to escape the past and reach for the future. And the lights and stars of Los Angeles seemed to be the best way to do both.
Maya turned her gaze to the clock and cursed herself silently. Now she was running late, and she would have to hear it from her boss. Every time she pulled herself away from her memories, something just kept pulling her back in.
After six years, it wasn't getting better. It was getting worse.