Author's Note: So my other multichap I wrote had stuff that was based off of real life events, and I'm doing that here too. Maya's feelings, her struggles and fears and hopes and beliefs and sadness—all mine but may be adjusted to suit Maya. Her relationship with Lucas—it's kind of like my relationship with this guy that I like. Except my guy promises to break me. But I'm the Maya in our relationship as he likes another person, which is the Riley in our group. Except 'Riley' is Maya-like (she can beat the shit out of him) and I'm the Zay (all bark and very little bite) personality-wise. But yeah, my feelings for him might be expressed through Maya's feelings for Lucas.

AU; set in high school, sophomore year and above; slight OOC, especially with Brandon because he had only one appearance and I mushed him with my OC Jared (who is no longer here since Tiramisuspice gave me Briley and Jared was a bad boy-type rebel like Brandon).

Disclaimer: I don't own GMW and I'm pretty sure no one in this website does. But you never know.

Chapter One: Orientation

Riley

I huff out a breath as I leave my last class of the day. It was 1:30 PM, and orientation was over. Well the important parts were, anyways. I don't want to spend time in some auditorium after the tour. I only came here for the early tour and the five dollar planner. Usually it's sold out but the first day of school. I twist around the corner, speed-walking to my locker so that I could get a head start in figuring out my combination (I forgot okay?) while the rest of the sophomore class saunters inside the auditorium so that Mr. Yancy lectures everyone the new changes this year. Doesn't he know that we don't care?

And that's why I don't know why everyone, including my friends Maya and Farkle, decided to participate in his rant. But I guess to show respect we should at least attend, no matter how much we don't care about the things he's talking about. But why did Maya go in there? Oh wait, it must be because of the A/C. I want nothing more than to get out of here, eat some frozen yogurt down the street, and go home. I really wanted to go home. I still do.

. . .

I'm all ready. The wallpaper and chandelier and shelves were in its place, as well as a whiteboard and a bulletin board. I also add in the finishing touches—pictures of Maya, Farkle, and Brandon and me. Even though we had that incident last year we're still friends due to Maya. And besides, I'm not into him anymore and we're just friends.

I feel presence beside me and I smile as Maya loops her arm through mine. When I look at her I see her smiling mischievously down at me, which meant that she was scheming something.

As a good friend, I believe in Maya and the fact that she would never hurt me. But sometimes she does in unintentional ways. Like drinking underage. Daddy found out due to my tomato tipsy face. I had one drink. One! And my body gave me away. And when I kissed him in last year during during the homecoming after party. Luckily he was drunk, and I was drunk, so we blamed it on that. Why did I ever think that I had a chance with him, anyway? We're just friends. Friendly friends who do friend things.

Somehow I feel like this plan, whatever it is, will be good. We walk towards the subway station so that we could hang at my house.

I apply vanilla lip gloss during the ride home, the same kind of lipgloss Maya uses. I know that he likes girls like that. Wait. Why do I care about what he likes? I'm not his type. And I'm over him.

"Vanilla? What about kiwi? You are a sweet innocent run-in-the-meadows with rainbows and unicorns kind of gal with strawberry kiwi lip gloss." Maya remarks.

I scowl. "I can be as polluted as you! I can be cool!"

"Yeah… you're as cool as ice. Says no one ever." Maya says. I frown. "You want to be cool?"

"Duh."

"Let's see how cool you can be when you look at him." I furrow my brows in confusion. What did she plan?

"Maya…" I mutter before she points in his direction. Yes, I knew it was a boy. Maya always does that. So I know that she is doing it now. But I gave in to my curiosity and turn around.

And then I see him; a bright, tanned guy with dirty blond hair and sea foam green eyes. He smiles in our direction.

I smile back, my mouth curling into that goofy smile that I do like it was required for me to do that. Smiles are contagious. And I don't think that anyone would disagree with me for saying that he is gorgeous. And because of that I am completely petrified. I guess my body has a mind of its own, since everything became automatic: I look back at Maya, since she brought me into this, my knees wobbly and stomach full of giggles and butterflies.

"Yeah, you're gonna need some lessons. Let me show you everything you need to know about boys and girls." Maya says, noticing my "unicorn mode," something she calls whenever I'm bubbly and giggle and all around happy. And like it was child's play, she simply walks toward the guy and, without pause or hesitation, she says, "Hi, I'm Maya. You're really cute. We should hang out sometime. You make me happy. You don't pay enough attention to me. This isn't working out. It's you, not me. We can still be friends, not really."

She walks away, and I look at the boy, who was no doubt amused at Maya's little game. "He's available. We just broke up."

"Are you okay? Do we need to talk about it?" I manage to joke.

"You still wanna be like me?"

"I want to be exactly like you. I think too much, and you don't think at all." I say, referring to the whole Brandon thing in middle school and freshman year. And that incident. And I think Maya got my reference since she was quiet for a brief moment. And then she smiles.

"See? You get me, so let's not think."

She practically pushes me onto his lap when she unlatched me from the pole and well, he was surprised. I can't blame him, since a stranger just sat on him. I'd be like that if the roles were reversed.

"Hi," I nervously giggle. "We were just talking about you. You used to go out with my friend, Maya."

"I'm Lucas." he say.

"I love it." I blurt out. What did I do? What. Did. I. Just. Do. Shoot, shoot, shoot. Let me disappear. I want to disappear. Disappear, disappear, disappear!

Luckily a woman interrupts us and I head back to Maya.

"What if that was the best moment of my life? What if nothing ever happens to me again?" I say, realizing what just happened. I messed up, as usual. I always find a way to sabotage my relationships. Not as bad as Maya (no offense), but I always choose the wrong words and the wrong guys. But luckily I have Maya, and we made a pact that if we end up both a spinster we'll live together with our cats.

I realize that Maya wasn't over when she smiled and did the worst possible thing ever. She made me fall onto the woman's lap. How did I not expect that?

"It's for you." The woman says before putting me on Lucas's lap.

We talked for a bit, a bit awkwardly but friendly. He was so cute. Sweet. I could tell that he was good guy.

But he was a stranger. And he could be a clever con artist. An intelligent serial killer. A charming rapist. Maya tells me to prepare for the worst. Yet she also encourages to not care and YOLO and let loose a bit. How do I find that balance? I don't. It's better being safe than sorry. So I didn't believe in exchanging numbers and we went our separate ways.

Maya

Orientation was boring. And it's still going on. But I feel like it's already over and Yancy just wants us to listen to avoid an assembly on the second day of school.

"Blah blah blah." Is all I hear. Principal Yancy is so boring, talking about school and stuff. Does he mean to be hated by the entire student body? Yet we still respect him only because he makes the rules in this fucking prison.

"New year," "new privileges," "new teachers," he droned on and on about. Riley is in the "bathroom," so to speak. She is most likely skipping the end to set up and decorate her locker and will stay until the damned orientation is over.

I went to sit towards the back, hoping to get some shut eye (something actually useful).

"…some transfers from other schools in our district will come here, as we are struggling financially with budgets…"

I wake up with a start as the auditorium door slams closed, and I automatically expect Riley to come back, not wanting to miss the boring lecture due to her geekiness. But it isn't her. At least I know that on a scale to 1 to Farkle on the Geekiness/Nerdiness (I still don't get how it's different) scale she isn't a Farkle yet. What appears in her place was a cute guy; tall, muscular, with dirty blond hair and grayish-green eyes. He isn't my type. But he is cute, like annoyingly cute. Freakishly perfect, that is.

He must've thought no one would notice, but I did. I always do. I notice things, and it's both a blessing and a curse. Because some things scar you for life.

"Are you lost?" I ask.

He nods.

"Where are you from?"

"Pardon me?" he asks. I thought chivalry and politeness was dead. The only people who still do it is Farkle, Charlie Gardner (but he's surrounded by girls in his family so we can't blame him), some nerds, and Brandon. And he does it sarcastically.

"Never mind. I'll show you the ropes tomorrow." I say, shrugging him off. He raises his brow. Boys are so slow. "Open house is this week, for those who missed the orientation and for those who wants to buy the tiny planners and to organize/decorate your locker."

"Thank you, Miss…"

"Call me Maya." I say before raising my brow. "Miss?"

"I know, I know. I sound like an old man. I guess it's just my southern hospitality. I'm Lucas, by the way."

Okay, this is getting interesting.

"I knew something was wrong with you." I say, a smirk involuntarily growing on my lips. "The whole time I should've know that you were a Hee-Haw."

"What?"

"You know, a Ranger Rick from the wild west." I say with a little drawl. "And your name plus the southern hospitality equals good kid—not my type, if you actually thought of messing with me."

His cheeks turns red, either in fury of embarrassment. He is way too predictable.

"We'll you're wrong. I'm not a cowboy." Lucas says trying to be calm. I think I'm about to break him.

"Yeah… sure you are, Sundance." I say, mocking him with my impromptu nickname. "Austin? Dallas? Omaha?"

"No!" he defends. He bites his tongue afterwards.

"You're lying." I say, smirking. He knows his mistake. He knows hat it was too quick and I mentally laugh. Teasing guys and scaring them is my specialty. And I love it. "I broke you, didn't I? So what was it? Austin?"

"Actually I don't care what you think," he says in retaliation.

"Okay Cowboy," I say. "But was it Austin?"

He barely nods.

"I can't believe I got it on the first try."

He shakes his head just as the bell rang.

"Why were you late?" I asked.

He doesn't respond. I walk with the crowd towards the center of the school, not caring anymore. He is just some guy. Another cute guy for me to taunt. And Riley is the only important person in my life. Sisters before misters.

I walked upstairs toward my locker instead of Riley's knowing that she's going all out: wallpaper, shelves, a mirror, a bulletin board and a whiteboard. And I think she bought of one those chandeliers, too.

Crap. Does the universe hate me? But wait… I can work with this.

Ranger Rick's locker was down the hall, only a classroom away from mine. That meant he had an E, F, or G last name. Well maybe not G, because he is far from fellow cheerleaders and Jaguar Rachel Gabriel and Jasmine Galella. And maybe not E, because drama geek Isabela Elias and jock Nathan Eisenhower was closer to the center than him. He must have an F last name.

Wait. Why do I care? How did he get into my head. I'm like a stalker!

Shit.

He sees me. And he's coming towards me. I turn to face Jaguar (the popular group of girls) Lily Haas, jock James Hawkins, Jaguar Sophia Hegner, band obsessed possible goth Jamie Helt (a friend of Brandon's), and nerdy Mia Hernandez, all recognized for their cliques. In Farkle's, Riley's, Brandon's, or because of popularity. I, Maya Hart, am part of the artistic-hippy-anarchist-rebel people, but is basically a nobody because I am different than everybody. I am real. And diverse. Riley was a cheerleader, drama geek, nerd and last year's vice president. She is real, too. So is Farkle. He may be a genius but he's a drama dude, and has feelings.

"Maya." he says, approaching me. He's going to be known as Cowboy thanks to me. Just how Brandon was the bad boy rebel heartbreaker because of me. Although he doesn't know that I started that rumor, since I'm his friend and he'd shun me for participating in the rumor mill. The difference between Brandon and other heartthrobs is that, although he has only one known dimension (towards everything as a defense mechanism), I can tell he's human. Lucas, well he's interesting. I don't know what he is.

He places his hand on my shoulder, and I realize that I'm stiff and frozen.

It is gentle, and it almost makes me shiver; but I remember the cardinal rule of friendship: you don't fall for your best friend's crush, boyfriend, or ex boyfriend. I'm not one to follow the rules, but Riley is always an exception. I sense that Riley will meet him and get smitten. No doubt he'll be popular for his looks or something. I'm just being cautious and besides, what dude would like me?

"What do you want, Hop-Along?" I say, half-faking annoyance.

"A new nickname? Really?"

"What can I say," I reply, smirking, "a cowboy like you has no limits, Huckleberry."

"Alright then," he says slowly, tipping an imaginary hat, "I guess I have the right to call you Mockingbird, ma'am."

That is okay for his first try. It's not like I haven't heard that before.

"So whaddya want?"

"Huh?"

"What do you want?" I repeat. He gives me a boyish, stupid and clueless look. I smile. Boys are such idiots. "Well you came up to me and said 'Maya.'"

Ha blushes in embarrassment. "Oh yeah, that—I just needed to see a familiar face."

"Well then," I says.

"Well then," he says..

I walk back downstairs toward the right and I went to the music hall, where the unlucky sophomores with last names K-Z were. (No offense Riles, but it's true and you know it.) It was right near the entrance to the auditorium. And it was decorated to the brim with pastel pinks, blues and yellows. I grab Riley after she finished Riley-fying her locker. I try not to smirk, not wanting to spoil my surprise for her.

I rush her to the subway so we could get a head start on relaxing with Netflix and pizza. It was a literal Netflix and chill, not the douchebag one. If Riley is lucky, I'll let her Riley-fy me with a makeover. But that's a big if.

I find myself staring at Riley, wishing I was her. She had the perfect life; two doting parents, a sweet brother, a stable income, and people that love her.

She is always smiling, knowing that she will always be loved and safe. She is innocent, too innocent sometimes, but she is precious in that way. I wish I had that. No stress and blissfully unaware—she doesn't know that Pluto is no longer a planet. It was adorable.

As I continue to absentmindedly stare at Princess Dancing Sunshine, I notice that Riley is applying some vanilla bean lipgloss.

"Vanilla?" I blurt, "What about kiwi? You are a sweet innocent run-in-the-meadows with rainbows and unicorns kind of gal with strawberry kiwi lip gloss."

"I can be as polluted as you! I can be cool!" Riley say, trying to form a grumpy face. It looks like a six year old frowning. Absolutely adorable. When pigs fly, Riles.

"Yeah… you're as cool as ice. Says no one ever." I quip. Riley makes a weird frowny-face. It looked unnatural and adorable in her face. The way her brows furrowed makes me think of a confused puppy. "You want to be cool?"

"Duh."

I try to think of ways Riley can prove herself. And then I see that clueless dipshit on the subway. Huckleberry is sitting right there behind us, eyeing us and smiling. He is interested in Riley, of course. No one can resist the doe-eyed glowing ball of positivity that is Riley Matthews. "Let's see how cool you can be when you look at him."

Riley looks at him, nervously smiles, and looks at me for help. She is absolutely smitten, as predicted. I am right, like always.

Though I wanted to be wrong, I wasn't. As per usual, Riley likes the guy that I like, which means I get someone else, usually the guy's best friend.

Being a negative pessimist really pays off, as I am not really disappointed; though a part of me wishes Riley doesn't like him and that he likes me, which makes my heart sink a bit.

"Yeah, you're gonna need some lessons. Let me show you everything you need to know about boys and girls." I say, finally accepting what was destined. I walk towards the Cowboy and, pretending that I didn't know him, say, "Hi, I'm Maya. You're really cute. We should hang out sometime. You make me happy. You don't pay enough attention to me. This isn't working out. It's you, not me. We can still be friends, not really."

I walk away, heading towards Riley with a smile. "He's available. We just broke up."

"Are you okay? Do we need to talk about it?" Riley says.

"You still wanna be like me?" I ask.

"I want to be exactly like you. I think too much, and you don't think at all." Riley says.

Ouch, that stings. Do I seem that stupid? Is it my fault that no one is home and that my mom wasn't the brightest student in school? I know Riley doesn't mean that, and she meant impulsiveness (me) and overthinking (her), the words still hurt nonetheless. I don't think. I am the scarecrow. With no brain whatsoever.

"See? You get me, so let's not think." I say, pretending that nothing happened.

I let her go from the pole and she falls onto his lap—partially because of the hurtful words and also because Riley seriously needs a push. I think he smiled at her. Why does that hurt?

"Hi," Riley giggles. "We were just talking about you. You used to go out with my friend, Maya."

"I'm Lucas." he says.

"I love it." she spills.

Then, a woman interrupts them and she sheepishly walks back to me.

"What if that was the best moment of my life? What if nothing ever happens to me again?" she cries, realizing what just happened. She had messed up. In the cutest way possible.

I smile and accidentally made her fall onto the woman's lap. Whoops!

"It's for you." The woman says before putting her on Ranger Rick's lap.

They talk, absolutely infatuated with each other and I look on, trying to be happy for my best friend.

I absolutely dread the first day of school.