I tried to make the references as historically accurate as possible but please do not quote me on it or blame me if something is wrong!

Chapter 2

"Thank you Miss Matts." Mr. Matthews said as Kylie took her seat next to Riley. "Now today we will be learning about the American-Indian War. The Native Americans, the original owners of the land that is known today as North America, felt threatened by the growing powers of new colonists coming in from England. The Native Americans sparked many wars with the colonists to try to gain back the land that was rightfully theirs."

"Mr. Matthews?" Maya said raising her hand.

"Yes Maya"

"Why did the colonists take the land from the Indians if they knew it was rightfully theirs to begin with?"

"Well Miss Hart, the colonists landed in America to break free from the terrible life they had in England. I think they saw land, lots and lots of land and they thought it was big enough to share."

"But they didn't share Mr. Matthews, they forced the Indians off the land that they had lived on forever."

"You are right Maya. The good part of me wants to believe the colonists were just desperate to be somewhere other than England and they had no idea how much the Indian's land meant to them or how much hardship they were causing. They saw plenty of land that could be shared but I don't think they saw the importance behind it all. Does that make sense?"

"Yes" Maya said as the bell rang. "I just don't understand how the colonists couldn't have noticed." She added under her breathe.

"What was that Miss Hart?" Mr. Matthews asked suspiciously

"Nothing, I was just talking to myself" Maya said as she turned around to find Riley who had disappeared from her desk.

"I think she walked out with Kylie" Mr. Matthews called out

"He knows me too well" Maya thought as she now made her way to the door.

"And Maya?" Mr. Matthews added

"Yah Mr. Matthews?"

"I heard somewhere that people that talk to themselves are the smartest people in the world. Keep that in mind would you?"

"Sure Mr. Matthews" she said as she turned towards the door again. "Thank you"

As Maya walked into the hallway she found Riley standing by her locker talking to the new girl.

"Gosh darn it, what's her name again?" Maya thought as she made her way towards the lockers. "Was it Kendall? No, Karsyn? No, CARLY… no wait that's not it either"

"Maya!" Riley called, finally noticing her best friend standing there intensely staring at the floor.

"Come here! There's someone I want you to meet!"

"I met her at the beginning of class sweetie. Remember? Your Dad called us up and we were really confused and-"

"I know Maya but you haven't really met her."

"You're going to have to help me out here Honey."

"Do you know where she moved from?"

"I think we covered that in class too"

"Well did you know she helps raise BUNNIES? Bunnies Maya, BUNNIES."

"Yes Riley, I heard that too"

"Well did you know she moved into the same apartment building as me?"

All of the sudden Maya felt a strange nagging pain in her chest. She didn't want to ruin the "Smiley Riley" day with worry so she decided to ignore the feeling you start to get when you're about to cry.

"Stop it! Nothing is wrong" Maya thought as she told Riley "Wow, that's great!" For some reason she felt the need to change the subject so she turned to Kylie and asked "Where will your bunnies go if you live in an apartment?"

Before Kylie had a chance to respond; Riley's big smile came back as she said, "Her parents are opening a pet store right across the street! I can go hold bunnies and puppies everyday afterschool now!"

"Actually, we just got all our pets settled in, do you want to go to the store after school today?" Kylie said, finally speaking for the first time since class ended.

"YAY" Riley said in the way that only she could "Can we go Maya? Please, please can we go?"

"You go sweetie, I think I'm actually going to head home now. I'm not feeling to good (it wasn't a complete lie)."

"Are you ok Peaches? Do you need me to walk you home?" Riley asked as her smile turned into concerned.

"Great this is exactly what I didn't want" Maya thought "No I'm fine sweetie, it was just a long day and I woke up earlier than normal. I think if I just go home and take a quick power nap then I'll be fine."

Riley's face still showed some concern so Maya added, "You go to the pet store. I'll be fine. I'll drop by tonight after dinner, okay?"

"Okay, bye Peaches. See you after dinner?"

"I promise" Maya said holding up her hand with the ring that Riley had gotten her for her birthday.

And with that, Riley headed out with Kylie and Maya plugged in her headphones for the walk home. For some reason, the feeling got worse once she left Riley. She just wanted to drown these feelings out with music but even with music, it was still hard to ignore that nagging that for some reason made her feel so upset.

Maya walked into her apartment, grabbed a piece of cold pizza and sat down on the couch. She thought she'd actually try to take a little nap (even though she just used that excuse to stop Riley from being concerned) but somehow the lesson that Mr. Matthews had taught them about the American-Indian War popped into her head and for some reason. She just couldn't stop thinking about it. It hurt her to think that the Americans had taken something so important from the Indians, and without even caring. She didn't know why but this made her really upset.

"It's just a stupid lesson" she said out loud as she laid down.

Apparently she was more tired than she thought because when she woke up, it was already 5:30. She decided she'd just go ahead and head over to the Matthews, eat some of their food, and do some homework with Riley.

Maya never even texted Riley when she was coming over anymore. Riley always left the window open and Maya came and went as she pleased. It was her second home. Besides she loved the reaction Riley got when she crawled through the window. She had been through that window ten million times but Riley was still overjoyed.

As she got to the window she peered in and saw Riley sitting in her normal spot on the bay window. Maya smiled as she reached to open the window but right as she was about to pull it open, she saw another person sitting there she hadn't noticed before. It was Kylie.

All of the sudden it feeling in her chest intensified, it felt like someone had stabbed her in the chest. She felt like she wanted to cry, but she couldn't. She tried once again to open the window but she couldn't bring herself to. She turned around and started heading back to her house. She opened the door expecting and secretly hoping to walk into an empty house but as she was walking to her room she heard her mom call

"I honey! How was your day?"

"Fine" Maya called, keeping her eyes fixed on the door and quickening her step.

As soon as she got in her room, she shut the door quietly and melted into her pillow.

"Why does this hurt me so bad? I shouldn't even be hurting at all." She thought as she finally let out the cry that she felt like she had been holding in all day.