a|n - so i know that i haven't updated 'strings' in three weeks or so but i've been a little put off by my writing for that story recently. i do plan to finish it of course since i know the ending and everything, it's just a matter of writing it but this plot bunny was just at the back of my mind for the past month and i've been wanting to write a multi-arc story for the longest time. but anyway, i hope you guys like this story. the main couple of the story will be lucas and maya though and other point of views will come in naturally if all goes to plan. i hope you guys like this! x
Nothing felt better than watching the plane descend into West Chester County airport. Maybe it was seeing all the tall pine trees in full bloom for the first time in nearly a year before the fall chill got to them or possibly the fact that she could read all the signs everywhere she went from that point on. Or, and this one Maya considered was the most possible reason for her being so giddy about coming home, it was because she would finally be returning to Abigail Adams Prep.
She would get to see Riley and Isadora in person after what felt like forever and the three of them would be the little trio that they always were. It was easy since all three of them attended the same all girls boarding school. Maya remembered the day that Shawn told her that he wanted her to attend there and she briefly wondered what she did to piss him off so much.
"This isn't a punishment, Maya. It's a good school and could give you a lot of opportunities." He tried further explaining to her while she sat on the couch staring at him, blankly.
"Opportunities for what? Becoming a dropout earlier than expected?"
He ignored her like he usually did whenever she brought up being a failure or something similar and sighed before speaking again, "They have a really good art program and just are well rounded over all. I went to the affiliated all boys school, John Adams Prep with Cory when we younger and I got a scholarship for my pictures. It helped me get where I am now, Maya and it'll help you for sure." Still noticing that she looked unconvinced, he shot her a small smile and whispered,
"I heard from a little birdie that a certain purple cat loving girl will also be attending in the fall."
It was then that she was fully convinced that maybe Abigail Adams Prep wasn't as bad as she initially thought. And things seemed to be fine from then on, her and Riley moved into a dorm room that was for three people and that was where they met Isadora and the trio then formed. The school year went along without a hitch, her classes were difficult but she somehow managed to make due not to mention that her art teacher was possibly as crazy as she was about art.
That was another thing Maya mentally added to the list of things she'd missed right after Riley and Isadora and the feeling of her bed oddly enough.
But Abigail Adams Prep wasn't all smiles and giggles like some people like Riley probably thought it would be initially. The girls who attended there came from a long line of money which was basically how the social system ran there until Maya and Riley entered as freshman and Maya hit it off immediately with a senior named Francesca who could care less if Maya was very low class up until a year ago when her mother married Shawn.
There was someone who cared and she went by the name of Missy but the lack of money wasn't her main issue with Maya though she knows that it fuels her distaste. She knows that it's simply the way Maya presents herself at the school, her shirt untucked and tie hanging loose around her neck. Seeing a difference in behavior from a fellow student could be hard for people like Missy who permanently had a stick up their ass and Riley tried making Maya understand this when she was trying to convince her friend that getting along with everyone in the school would make their lives a whole lot easier because they were living on campus with those people.
Maya remembers the end of her freshman year, before her father had come and asked to spend time with her for the next year, her relationship with Missy hadn't exactly ended with them being best friends and braiding each other's hair. Yet they were at a mutual agreement that even though the two would never be close to getting along, they couldn't imagine arguing with someone else for a year.
"Excited to be back?" Her father nudged her in the taxi. They'd gotten off the plane and into the cab so quick that she hadn't realized how deep her thoughts had taken her. Solely for the sake of maintaining her laid back reputation, she gave a noncommittal shrug like she hadn't been thinking about her life at the school this whole time.
Her father rolled his eyes, "I forgot who I was talking to for a second. Are you too cool to say that you missed your friends now?"
Without missing a beat, she answered with a smirk, "I thought I was cool before I realized that I'm sitting in a car with you." He let out a loud laugh which Maya had found comforting while exploring Europe together.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, I don't usually hang around old people, ya' know?"
He reached up and clutched his chest, feigning pain, "Ouch. Now, you're using my age against me? Low blow."
Maya let a laugh slip, breaking her composure completely. If it was possible, her father's laughter grew even louder much to the dismay of the cab driver she thought once they were getting closer to her school. The phone ringing sucked away the happy mood momentarily as he shot an apologetic smile before picking up the phone and judging by the way he was rushing to end the call, Maya would guess that it was her stepmom on the other side of the phone.
They weren't unhappy, her father explained to her after he received a call from her while they were waiting in line for tickets to The Louvre. She was just hormonal because she was pregnant with her twin siblings, a boy and a girl, her father told her with an excited smile. There was a brief moment during their conversation or more her listening to him speak animatedly about how cool it was going to have twins, that she wondered if he was that excited when her mother told him she was pregnant.
Was he excited when he found out it was a girl? Did they even see the sex of the baby before the birth? Or had everything built up from that point on until he had no choice but to leave?
"Alright, I'm just gonna drop off Maya at the school and then I'll give you a call back. Okay, love you." Him hanging up pulled her back to the present once again where in a matter of a few minutes she'd be without seeing her father for who knows how long. It shouldn't be a big deal since she spent a good eight years without him before he stepped back in her life and wanted a place in it. She remembers when he had given her his phone number so she could call him whenever she wanted to talk or if she needed something.
Initially, she thought it was complete bullshit because after eight years, he was suddenly by her side all the way waiting to help her out with anything she needed. At the time, it all seemed a bit too good to be true. But one night after a week at being at the boarding school, she began to feel homesick but was too prideful to call her mother and Shawn or even tell Riley who suggest she do the former. Instead, she called her dad hoping that hearing his voice would make her feel angry at the very least so there's a change of emotion.
That wasn't the case at all though. He spoke softly to her, it was in a way she doesn't even remember him doing when he was still with her and her mother. Nevertheless, Maya felt instantly calmer just hearing him give her advice in his gentle voice. He was in no means a version of home but that night, he showed a side of himself that seemed like he genuinely wanted to help.
And she knows that after the babies are born there will be very little time for Maya to have those comforting conversations with her dad. As the taxi rushed past a boy that looked around her age with a backpack on a bright blue diamond on it with the silhouette of a stag in the middle and she found the design oddly familiar but couldn't place where she knew it from.
It took her the rest of the ride in the taxi for her to be hit with the worst memory she could have at Abigail Adams Prep.
The design was so recognizable because the color and pattern of it is similar to what the design of the Abigail Adams Prep logo which was a white diamond background and a doe in the middle and the stag version was from the affiliated school, John Adams Prep.
Even hearing the name in her head struck a deep hatred she reserved deep in her heart for the boys who went there. If she thought Missy Bradford was horrible to put up with, the boys from John Adams were ten times worse and she only had to see them for special occasions that the schools hosted where they would let both student bodies bond, like the semi-formal or prom.
And the object of her distaste for that school went by the name of Lucas Friar.
He was a cattle loving, harvest cropping piece of shit southern guy that you'd expect to come from Texas. He had the biggest ego she's ever seen and the very short times that they've met in person have gone terribly wrong because they can't stand to be around each other. It all began one night at homecoming freshman year when Maya was waiting for Riley to come back into the gym after her father called her in outrage because he hadn't told her where she was going before she left. During that time is when Lucas had sauntered up to her with all his arrogance and turned a night from alright to complete shit in a matter of two hours.
Going into detail mentally made her blood boil and she forced herself to get her act together because she was nearly done. Junior year would fly by as well as senior year and then she'll have college where there won't be time to think about trivial things like Lucas Friar.
Instead she could focus on her art and getting into a good college. Isadora would love hearing her say that, she thought with a smile.
The thought of her two best friends grew when she saw the tall buildings bunched together behind the closed gate then she remembered the text that Riley had sent her before she boarded the plane.
'text me when you're close so we can welcome you home! x'
Maya had just finished texting her back that she was outside when she heard a familiar man's voice from the booth by the gates.
"I'm going to have to see some proof that you aren't dropping some criminal at the school's doorstep, sir. It's my duty to protect these kids so I'm sorry if you have a problem with it." The man told off the cab driver who in turn rolled his eyes. A grin appeared on her face instantly as she rolled down the window to look at one of her favorite people at Abigail Adams Prep.
"I guess you won't allow me in then, huh?" She shouted to him and the officer's grew twice in size.
"Maya Hart! I didn't think I'd ever see you disturbing the peace ever again."
She shrugged with a small laugh, "Someone has to, Officer James. Can't have these kids going about obeying all the rules, now can I?"
He beamed at her before hitting the button to open the gates, "For the sake of the new faculty, I hope not. See you later, Maya." Maya was too caught up in being happy to see a familiar face that she didn't even realize the key word in what Officer James had said, she just waved back to him and her father witnessed it all with an amused look on his face.
But then the sign caught her attention as the driver zoomed past it. It usually was white with baby blue lettering spelling, "Abigail Adams Preparatory School for Girls" and the wood of the sign always looked worn no matter what angle or distance you looked at it from so Maya found it odd that when she looked at the sign, it was cobalt blue with sky blue lettering and she only caught the words, "Adams Preparatory School".
Maybe it was renovations, she dismissed the panic that had risen at seeing the sign look differently.
The car stopped at the front doors which due to Maya arriving later than everyone else to move in, allowed her her own space to move her luggage into her room because no one else was outside.
Her father and the cab driver jumped out first to get her bags while she glanced at her phone again to see if Riley had text her anything else. She didn't and Maya sighed before getting out of the cab to help wheel her suitcases towards the door. She eyed the six suitcases she had packed to go with her father and remembered thinking that she hadn't brought enough before they went.
Now lugging the initial weight of her bags plus extra souvenirs that her father had bought her while they were in Europe, Maya realized that she had made things more difficult for her future self by giving herself more room to stuff foreign crap into.
Her father handed the lightest bag to her and shot her a small smile. She could tell that he wasn't completely happy like he seemed to want to be and Maya knew why. With her stepmother being pregnant with twins, he wouldn't know when he would be able to come back and see her. The last time he'd seen his wife in person was when he was kissing her goodbye before his journey with Maya.
His new family was a priority though and she knew this, but she too felt her heart tug. Noticing this too, her father pulled her into him and whispered into her hair, "Call me if you ever need anything, Maya. I mean that. You're important to me too." If she wasn't trying to stay so composed, she would've teared up at that but she knew that Riley and Isadora would be downstairs at any moment and she didn't want to be caught crying on her first day back with them.
"I know. Tell Maggie that I hope everything goes okay with the twins."
"I will. I'm gonna miss you." He said and kissed her forehead before pulling away from her.
"I'm gonna miss you too, old man. Now, can we please stop being sappy before I get sick?"
Her joke seemed to break the somewhat tense mood like she had planned and he breathed a laugh before ruffling her hair. She tried not to scowl at him for it as he waved to her one more time then stepping into the cab. From the window that she had left open, he said,
"Don't get into any trouble, please."
As the car pulled away she made sure to shout back to him, "No promises!" For a moment, everything was quiet and she felt the absence of her father for the first time in a long time. Then that moment ended promptly when she heard a high pitched scream that belonged to the only person who would act so dramatic seeing her in person. Maya also heard footsteps that sounded like more than just two people but once again thought better of it at seeing her lanky best friend running full speed towards her.
"Maya!" Riley screamed for the third time until she finally ran into Maya and nearly knocked her over along with the suitcase. She pulled her into a bear hug and Maya wondered where Isadora was until she felt another pair of arms that were a little chubbier and shorter than Riley's, wrap around her too.
"Welcome back, Maya." Isadora mumbled into the sleeve of her shirt. The three of them stood there hugging until Isadora pulled away because her body was digging into the bag she was still holding.
"Why don't we help you with these?" Riley offered and took the bag from her while Isadora went to grab one of the bags by the steps.
Maya's eyes followed them until they landed on the three figures standing at the top of the steps, more specifically the three boys who Maya knew too well. The three of them made a perfect set of morons.
Zay Babineaux, the smooth talker and clown of the group. Maya vaguely recalls him trying to flirt with a group of her classmates and succeeding since they all later argued about who he was looking at while telling the joke.
Then Farkle Minkus who most likely had the same AP level classes as Isadora because the two of them were the two smartest people she's ever met. Although, Farkle had a tendency to make sure people knew he was smart and say certain things to make sure that people knew that they weren't as smart as him. She would've thought he was the most arrogant out of all of them if she hadn't met the ring leader.
Which led her eyes to look at Lucas Friar who stood there casually, his eyes locked with hers as he flashed her a smile that made her stomach plummet as there was never a good reason behind a Lucas Friar smile.