Maya was angry, she was furious in fact. Had been since the day Riley decided that Maya wasn't allowed to grow. That was 2 years ago and now, she was in a new school away from all the people that wrecked her. It had been hard for Shawn when she told him that she wanted to go to boarding school to get away from Riley. He hadn't understood at first but when she explained why, he had accepted it without question. He was also angry about the fact that Cory had tried to change him from the man that Katy had fallen in love with. Shawn was a grown man though and had easily taken the clothes without anything else.

Maya had fought with herself the rest of freshman year but she simply couldn't keep pretending that everything was fine with her friends. She couldn't keep watching Riley and Lucas fumble through their non-existent relationship and have Farkle pretend he couldn't see her hurting when she knew he could and would do nothing about it. She spent more time with Isadora and Zay and more time in the art room working on a portfolio for the appliction to the prestigious boarding school she was hoping to get a scholarship to. Mr Jackson had helped having developed a dislike for Riley and how she affected Maya's art.

She got the Scholarship and well everybody was so proud of her. Everybody except Riley who couldn't believe that she would leave Riley after Riley got to remain in New York in stead of going to London. It was easy after that to cut ties with Riley. She didn't see Riley or Lucas for the rest of the summer and barely saw Farkle who followed Riley around like a lost puppy and in doing so had driven his girlfriend into the arms of Zay who appreciated her a hell of a lot more. So Maya spent her summer with Zay and Smackle and her parents of course. It was hard not to see Cory or Topanga or even Auggie but they came to visit the appartment a few times so that made it a bit easier.

"When she got to her new school she was thankful for the uniform that she had to wear most of the time so that she didn't have to wear the clothes that Riley made her buy too often. She made new friends and even got the odd email from Riley which she replied to as kindly as she could manage. She spoke to Zay and Smackle regularly and they even came to come visit her a few times careful not to mention Riley or Lucas when they came. She was happy right up and untill she walked into the Cafeteria one morning only to come face to face with the boy she had spent two years trying not to think about.

So yeah Maya was furious, how dare he invade her new life and to make matters worse he had gotten more attractive somehow. She spun on her heels and stormed out the Cafeteria, hearing him call after and wishing he would stop making a scene.

"Maya, wait." He had, of course, caught up easily what with him having legs as long as tree trunks and her legs being well tiny, her growth spurt never came. He reached for her wrist and she spun on him ripping her arm from his hand./p

"What Lucas? What do you want? Why are you even here?" Her chest was heaving and people were staring confused by Maya's reaction to the boy in front of her. Maya was known to class mates as being the type of girl who treated most everybody with indifference and especially not letting guys get to her. It was a carefully crafted persona that Maya had built up, she had good friends who new the reason why she acted that way but to the majority of her classmates this reaction was incredibly out of character.

"I got a scholarship, I'm a student here." A humorless laugh bubbled out of Maya and she glared at him.

"Of fucking course you did, for baseball or football?" She asked her eyebrow raised.

"Both" He said and she rolled her eyes, she should have known golden boy would get a two in one scholarship.

"Well listen up Friar, just stay out of my way and everything will be fine." He reached for her again and she jerked back not able to handle him touching her.

"Maya, you're my friend, please." She laughed again and said the words that had been on the tip of the tongue for longer then she cared to admit.

"We aren't friends, Lucas. We never were, I was the girl who was dumb enough to fall for the guy her best friend liked and you were the guy who lead me on for two years and only to tell me he didn't like the way we interacted and ran into the arms of said best friend." He looked as if she had slapped him but she didn't care she was done feeling things when it came to Lucas Friar.

"Maya, that isn't what happened and you know it. I..." She shook her head.

"Save it, You had two years to give me your explanation. It's too late now." She turned away from him and walked away from the boy who had broken her heart and still did against all odds, not that she would let him know that. He called after her but didn't follow her as she walked to her dorm barely keeping the tears from falling. She was glad he let her go, she didn't think she would be able to push him away again and she hated herself for it.

She managed to make it to her room before falling apart and she was so grateful she had gotten enough room points to get a single room so that she didn't have to deal with a roommate in this state. She had honestly thought she was over it, or as over it as she could be without dealing with it or getting any closure, but seeing him was like a punch to the gut and she couldn't stop everything from flooding back. It probably would have been easier if only the bad memories poured in, because it was every good moment they had shared together that was busy destroying her.

The fire in Texas, New Years Eve standing on the roof before Farkle said anything about Riley. Talking about religion, having him believe in her and her art. All of it was playing across her mind and she wanted to go back to before. Before Riley tried to change her, before the Ski Lodge, before all of it. She couldn't though and that was what was causing the tears to stream down her face, she had missed him and she wanted nothing more then to let him back in but she couldn't. She had no self control with him and if she let him in even a little he would manage to break down all of her walls again. That's what he had done the first time and look where that had gotten her.

She finally managed to calm herself down enough to breathe evenly and she pulled her phone out to call Zay. He must have known this was coming and he hadn't told her. He answered on the second ring and he sounded as guilty as she knew he was.

"Hey Maya, what, why are you calling so early." She rolled her eyes before remembering he obviously couldn't see her.

"Oh come off it Zay, you know exactly why I'm calling. How could you not tell me?" She heard Smackle, level headed Isadora, shriek in the background.

"You didn't tell her, you told me you had informed her that he would be transferring." Maya felt herself smile against all odds. Zay and Smackle really were great together.

"Look Maya, I wanted to tell you but I just didn't know how and I didn't want you to freak out." He said though she had a feeling he was explaining to his girlfriend as much as he was explaining to her. She heard the phone switch over to speaker presumably so that Smackle could hear her reply better.

"Yeah well I freaked out Zay, in front of everyone." There was silence on the other end of the line and then Isadora's kind voice filtered through.

"What happened?" Maya closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself before telling them what had happened. She heard Zay groan as she finished the retelling.

"Maya, I know I did the wrong thing not telling you but I swear I told Luke to give you space and wait for you to go to him. He was never supposed to approach you, especially not in front of everyone." He said sounding annoyed with the boy she new was still his best friend after everything.

"Isaiah is being truthful, we both told him to wait until you were ready before he attempted to start communication with you." Maya had grown to love Smackle's unusual speech pattern over the years and it made Maya smile hearing her now.

"You guys should have known he wouldn't listen. It isn't the Moral Compass' style." Zay chuckled on the other end of the line.

"Listen Monet, I know seeing him can't be easy but you're the strongest person I know and maybe seeing him again is what you need to finally get past this. Who knows maybe you guys can even be friends." He sounded so hopeful and Maya suddenly understood how hard it must have been for him balancing both of them. Having him call her Monet also made her smile, he had started calling her the names of various artists when she got the scholarship and hadn't dropped the habit since.

"Babineaux, I can't promise you that will happen any time soon. At the moment I just want him to stay away from me and let me get on with my life. The winter showcase is coming up and neither of my pieces are where I want them and Daniels is on my ass about entering another piece so I just don't have time to deal with him or how I feel at the moment." Maya really didn't want to let Zay down but she also couldn't let anything ruin the Showcase.

"Don't worry about Picasso, I don't want you stressing about Lucas instead of the Showcase, I just want you to not let him get to you. You and Lucas are my family and I'm not going to pretend that I don't want you guys to be friends again but your happiness is still more important Maya and if that means that I will have to divide my time equally when I come to visit then I will do that." He said the last part jokingly and she smiled. There was a knock on the door and she had a feeling it was Danny coming to check on her. Her friend always made sure to give her some time to compose herself after something happened before checking on her.

"Listen, Danny's at the door so I've got to go but I love you guys so much and I'll see you at the Showcase." She stood from where she had collapsed on the floor and went to the door.

"Love you Maya," they said in unison.

"Send Danielle our regards." This was of course from Smackle and Maya chuckled at the formality, opening the door for her closest friend at Oakmont. She ended the call and waited for Danny to say something.

"So that's the infamous Lucas Friar." That would be the first thing that would leave Danny's lips, not are you okay or what do you need me to do, no she went straight for the root of the problem.

"Yep" Maya said with a pop on the P.

"He's less chiseled then I imagined." Danny said and Maya burst out laughing before pulling her friend into the room and shutting the door. There was no way they were making home room.