She's not sure exactly how it got this far. It was supposed to be a one time thing, and it was. Until, of course, it wasn't. Now there are actual people talking about it. Whispers about a new street artist who scares old republicans.
Maya doesn't know why her work suddenly became political, because that's not what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be biographical, but somewhere along the way Ron's rambling snuck into her gloved hands as they made pictures that seemed more accusing than nostalgic. An empty soup can in the style of Warhol. Droopy eyes that she made with Ron's hunger in mind.
It isn't until Riley's family talks about it at the dinner table that she gets nervous.
Riley is scrolling through her phone when Mr. Matthews tells her to put it down. Riley doesn't even acknowledge him.
"Honey?" Mrs. Matthews asks, waking a hand in front of her face.
Riley looks up, and sighs dramatically, "I just wanna be good at something!"
The table is quiet. Mr. Matthews gives a long suffering glance towards the heavens, "I'll bite. What's wrong, Riley?"
"Have you guys seen this new street art guy?! He's incredible!"
Maya looks over, more interested in her stroganoff than Riley's current (adorable) melodrama. When she glances at the screen, her heart stutters to a stop. "Um."
"'Um'?! Maya, your only response to my crisis is 'Um'!" Riley is horribly offended and Maya laughs a little. She picks at her plate when she's struck with a thought.
"Why do you assume it's a guy?" Maya asks suddenly, then chokes a little when she realizes she asked out loud.
Mrs. Matthews is nodding her head. "Exactly! Why do we assume it's a guy?"
"What's street art?" Auggie asks, looking wildly from face to face.
"Someone who paints artworks on sidewalks or on the side of buildings." Maya offers.
"It's illegal." Mrs. Matthews says.
"So when we draw on the sidewalk with chalk you're letting me break the law?!" Auggie yells, slapping his hands to his face.
"No, Auggie, chalk is legal. Painting isn't." Maya says. Auggie looks relieved and slightly confused.
"Can we focus on the fact that I have no purpose in life, please?!" Riley cries.
Mrs. Matthews smiles brightly, "Who wants cake?"
Later that night, after placating Riley with the knowledge that she is very fashionable and also a very good best friend, Maya casually asks to see the pictures of the art.
"Don't get any ideas, Maya." Mr. Matthews says from his spot on the couch. Maya rolls her eyes, "Wouldn't dream of it, Mr. Matthews."
Riley sends her the name of the instagram account. It's all different kinds of street art from all over the world. It seems to operate off of submissions. When she goes into the NYC tag, she finds about five pictures of her art. The soup can has seven hundred likes and she feels lightheaded. There are only about twenty comments, but they range from impressed to annoyed.
"So original. Please, Warhol is probably rolling in his grave. This is a slap in his face"
"stfu bro this is some good shit"
"Looks like NYC has it's own Banksy. Dude's got talent."
Maya is slightly offended by the 'dude' thing. She is flattered, however, by the Banksy comment. Before she know it, she's already planned out her next work.
It takes her four weeks to get the cut out right, and then two more to figure out the perfect placement. She picks a medium sized 'canvas', big enough to catch attention but not enough to take up too much time. She does the cut out on a washing machine box she got from her landlord, Lola, a willowy woman in her late sixties that wears dark purple lipstick and has a cigarette permanently placed in her hand. Supposedly Lola was once an artist in the sixties and worked as a Go Go dancer at one point. Maya isn't sure why, but her landlord is incredibly fond of her and regularly invites her over for coffee.
She decides to wait a bit, and does a few more smaller pieces before the big one. Just to have some more of her work out there. She researches Banksy some more, and decides to take his lead on the animals, but replaces rats for deer and pigeons for sparrows.
When she finally puts up the big piece, several things happen at once.
First, cops are involved.
Second, a reporter for some hipster blog/zine shows up.
Third, the school holds an assembly about graffiti, and a police officer discusses the legal ramifications of illicit street art.
And lastly, people love it. It's all anyone talks about that morning at school.
There are whispers around the entire school about who it might be. No one so far has guessed correctly but they are getting one thing right: He probably goes to JQA middle school and he is a she. Maya realizes with some amusement that this has pissed of more than a few people.
When her and Maya are walking in that day, they both stop at a crowd of people. Maya puts on a poker face and pushes through the crowd. Her classmates are taking pictures of and with the piece. There are two cops talking with the principal off to the side.
Riley decides that illegal equals not cool, and so she turns up her nose, hooks her arm with Maya's and mutters something about hooligans. She marches them into class and Maya has to stop herself from being a little disappointed.
When they get into class, Zay is showing off a picture he took as if he's getting it published in Time Magazine. Maya says as much, and Lucas is staring at her in a way that is almost making her uncomfortable.
Zay rolls his eyes, "You just don't get real art, Ms. Shortstack."
Before she gets the chance to respond, Riley practically jumps down Zay's throat and states fervently that Maya is the best artist in their class and how dare he insinuate Maya doesn't get real art whens she creates it, for goodness sake!
Lucas snorts so loud everyone turns to stare. Maya's head goes quiet. She squints her eyes, "What are you laughing at, Huckleberry?"
He knows. He knows. Lucas knows, and she's pretty sure he's gonna be an asshole about this. Except all he does is shake his head and look down, shoulders still shaking slightly with laughter. Mr. Matthews comes in and informs them that there will be an assembly later to address the vandalism that occurred, and if anyone knows anything to report it to the principal immediately.
Maya breaks out in a cold sweat when she feels Lucas' eyes on her back.
She has no clue what his next move is.
After spending the entire day in blank horror, she gets out of school unscathed. When she sees Lucas leaving, she runs to catch up with him.
"So you're not gonna say anything?" She asks, feeling slightly nauseous.
He keeps a brisk pace and Maya has to jog a little to keep up. When they get to the subway platform, he turns to her, "Say anything about what?"
"You know what I'm talking about, Ranger Rick. Come on. Are you gonna snitch?" She's got a precarious grip on her patience at best and it's slipping.
He only smiles that ridiculous cowboy smile. "First, I've got no idea what you're talking to me about. Second, I'm many things, Maya, but I'm not a snitch."
Maya stares at him blankly, "Seriously?"
He looks slightly more serious now, turning to face her fully as Riley rushes to meet up with them. "Seriously."
Maya should be shocked, but somehow, she isn't. Riley notices she's missed something but doesn't push and Maya is grateful. They get on the subway together and Riley chatters as per usual. She manages to cover her future career choice as a fashion designer, her mother's cooking, and an upcoming test in her science class all in the fifteen minutes it takes to get to Lucas' stop. Right before his stop, Riley begins to bring up the 'delinquent' who vandalised the front of their school. Under the pretence of the subway pushing him into Maya as it comes to a halt, he moves in way too close and whispers, "It looked really good, Maya."
Then he's out the door, walking away and Maya is suddenly a blushing idiot. Riley looks concerned, but Maya only shakes her head and tells her she feels a little warm.
That night, Maya gets a text from Lucas that contains a link to the hipster blogger she'd seen that morning. The first post contains a high-quality picture of her art that'd been through some serious filters.
It looks like New York has a new artist on it's hands, and she's got a few things to say. This was taken in front of the John Quincy Adams Middle School in Greenwich Village earlier this morning. If you aren't aware, this piece seems to be heavily inspired by Banksy's "Rage the Flower Thrower". However, instead of the male holding flowers, it's a young girl with pigtails holding a spray paint can. I think it's safe to assume this particular artist is making a pretty bold statement here. Regardless, I'm excited to see what she has to say next.
Maya is grinning so hard her cheeks hurt. She begins to read the comments. They're reminiscent of the ones found on the instagram picture, but a few of them go a little bit more in depth about Banksy and street art. One at the bottom catches her attention. It was left by an anonymous account.
I think this artist has a lot of really important things to say, and I'm excited to hear her say them.
-Bucky McB
Sorry, quick note: I'm not sure whether I'm making this a very squinty Lucaya or just a close friendship of Lucas and Maya (tbh i'll leave that up to ya'll so let me know what you think ,either way). I'm not a big fan on how I characterized Riley here because she seems a little bit too dramatic and a little bland so i very well may rewrite this and repost it but for now I'll leave it how it is. Next chapter will either feature some Riley and Maya or some Shawn and Maya. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!