Author's Note: Do you want me to update sooner? I can definitely try if that's what you guys want! Anyway, hope you love this, I had fun writing some of these scenes! Please leave any comments, criticisms, and reviews, they would be very appreciated. Thank you for reading! (Edited by Chereche!)
UPDATED: 10-30-16
Disclaimer: I don't own Girl Meets World, just the story!
Chapter Three: More Than Just Black Eyes:
"Can you still not eat?" Riley asked sympathetically.
Maya sighed, annoyed that her friend had seemed to forget their argument earlier like it had never happened. But then again, that was how Riley seemed to function most of the time.
"Not, really," she answered patiently, glaring down at her yogurt.
"Hey, Shortstack." Lucas slid in next to Maya at the table. "You hungry?"
"Okay, I don't need another joke from you guys about how everything is so delicious and I can't eat a bite of it," she snapped.
"Nah, we're done with that," Zay promised and smiled.
"Here," Lucas said simply, handing her a cup of soup.
"Where did you get this?" Maya asked in surprise.
"I had my mama grab some for you and drop it off for lunch. I knew you can't eat anything that requires chewing, so I thought maybe some soup would be nice."
She wasn't exactly sure what to say; because while half of her was mad at her friends, the other part of her was warmed by the thoughtfulness shown.
"Okay, fine. I'll let you off the hook temporarily, Hop a' long," Maya said considerately as she opened it.
"What about me?" Zay asked.
"Hey, you had your chance," she answered, sipping the hot broth.
Riley smiled and Lucas smirked as his friend pretended to pout. Everything was getting better now; Maya couldn't stay mad at her friends for very long, no matter how hard she tried. Well, at least on the outside. On the inside, she kept it all deep, and even she didn't fully realize the grudges she held.
"Okay, everyone's happy again!" Riley exclaimed. "So, about Maya's—"
"Do you really want to go there? We just had a fight about this, Riley," Maya said in astonishment.
"—suspension threat," she finished with a slight smirk.
Maya went back to her soup.
"It's not like we can control her," Farkle reminded.
"No one can control her. Well, maybe Lucas," Riley said thoughtfully.
"Me?" he asked, mildly surprised.
"Yes, you!" Riley answered, and rolled her eyes. "But that's not the point, anyway. If we can't really control her in the moment, we need to make sure it doesn't ever start at all."
Maya had had enough though. "If you guys are going to talk about me like I'm not here, then I'm gonna' leave," she ground out and started to get up.
"Oh, cut it out, Blonde Beauty." Zay said.
Maya's face turned a light shade of pink, while Lucas's became beet red. He faced his friend, who just raised his eyebrows and smiled evilly.
"What?"
Lucas's eyes held a warning, which was clearly conveyed to his friend.
"Okay, I'll shut up now." Zay conceded.
"One time," he muttered under his breath.
"One time?"
"Anyway," Farkle said, clearing his throat and redirecting the conversation to its original point. "Maya, we just don't want you to get suspended."
"Eh' I don't know. It wouldn't be that bad; I wouldn't have to go to school, I could do whatever I wanted," she answered and shrugged.
"Except you would most likely be grounded. And forced to do mountains of chores," Riley pointed out, settling her chin on her hand.
"Ugh, that's probably true." She agreed.
"Hey, remember when you guys called off the triangle?" Zay spoke up suddenly.
Both of the girl's faces paled considerably, and they couldn't meet each other's eyes. Lucas suddenly became very interested in his sloppy joe.
"Zay," Farkle hissed between clenched teeth. "You better have a really good point."
"Well, remember that weekend where everyone finally moved on, and it seemed like everyone was fine…but they weren't? Maya was going to go do something—I don't even remember what it was—and we "contained" her?"
"Point, ballet dancer," Maya grated out, her patience was wearing thin.
"Doesn't that mean we can do it again? I guess the real point here is, we teamed up to help one of our friends, and we looked out for her. That's what friends do, right? Help each other out, and make sure nothing happens to them. Prevent things going from bad to worse," Zay finished.
"Way to be subtle." She said bitterly.
"Let's just assume he's talking about your suspension, okay?" Lucas persuaded.
"It hasn't even happened yet, and you guys are acting like it's a sure thing!" Maya exclaimed.
"No, that's not what we're saying, Peaches. And weren't you the one that told me yesterday that you were already preparing yourself for it to happen?" Riley reminded her.
"Doesn't mean you guys have to do anything," she mumbled.
"Maya, we just want to help you." Farkle repeated.
"I don't need help, okay?" She pushed her tray aside, and stomped off.
"Well, that didn't work," Lucas sighed, and leaned slightly on the table.
Zay seemed lost in thought, until Riley snapped her fingers in his face.
"Earth to Zay!" She smiled.
He looked around the table and asked, slightly self-consciously, "You guys don't care that I do ballet, right?"
The grass was soft and warm, almost like nature's way of telling you to fall asleep in its green blanket. Some people had done so - she could see them - but Maya herself didn't comply. The sky was a brilliant blue, and even though white, puffy clouds hovered above them, she spotted the dark, grey ones crouching above the horizon. She liked that; it held the promise of rain. Maya wasn't sure why she liked the rain—or maybe she didn't, who knew anymore? Maybe she liked the rain because it made the plants grow. No that wasn't it; that was too Riley for it to be her thoughts. Then, maybe she enjoyed the sound it made when it hit the roof? But it felt like a Farkle observation. Or, maybe it was the feeling itself of being out in it; letting the cool raindrops fall all over her. That was it. She had a memory of when she was really young, and her father had taken her to the park when it started to rain. At first she had started to cry because her nice day was ruined, but her father had picked her up and started to dance with her in the rain. Maya had giggled, and had made up some kind of rain song and dance, that they performed for the trees surrounding them.
She took a fistful of grass, and felt the urge to cry and hit something at the same time. She knew why though this time; it was one of the last good memories she had of her father before he had left. But that was a forbidden topic for her; she didn't want to think about him at all.
Her phone pinged, and she rolled over to grab it, swiping the lock screen with her finger. Maya opened the text, and her face hardened as she read what was written. Throwing the device back in the grass, she closed her eyes, trying to think about something else, anything else, but it didn't work. It shouldn't bother her, and at first she had laughed when the messages were sent, but now? Maya hated to admit it, but it was probably affecting her, even though she knew she was hiding it extremely well. That was one thing she was amazing at, putting up an unbreakable mask that no one could see through. She wasn't even sure who was sending her the texts, but it didn't really matter anyway.
Maya had no intention of telling any of her friends regardless; Lucas would probably turn into "Texas Lucas", Farkle would research until he was blue in the face, and Riley wouldn't rest until she had fixed everything. She didn't want to deal with that; because even though they thought they were helping, they would just make it worse. In that instance, she could understand why Riley had hidden her own bully, even though she herself didn't approve of anyone hiding things. Fortunately, they had figured out Riley's problem, and everything had gone back to normal. Maya didn't expect any such conclusion. Because unlike Riley, she was a whole lot better a hiding things—she'd had lot's of practice after all.
A sudden splash of coldness spread across her chest, and she gasped in surprise. Opening her eyes, and squinting against the sun, Maya managed to make out the figure of Missy Bradford standing over her, empty cup in hand. Her face was full of fake guilt and apologies, but her cold eyes betrayed her true feelings. She clenched her fists and sat up, trying so hard to keep her anger at bay.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I can be really clumsy at times," Missy said, and blinked innocently.
"What's your problem?" Maya demanded. She stood up, wiping ineffectively at her stained shirt.
"No problem. You were just in the way of the trash can...or maybe I mistook you for the trash. Sorry, my mistake." Missy smirked.
"I loathe you," Maya replied, smiling falsely.
"The feelings mutual, I assure you."
"And your lame insults? Not going to affect me. Nice try."
"Oh, Maya. You wouldn't know a good insult if it hit you in the face. In fact, you wouldn't know about anything taller than 4 feet, would you?" Missy asked, pursing her lips.
That insult hit just a bit too close to home, but Maya refused to give in to her rising temper. "You're not going to get anything out of me. I'm perfectly fine with being short." Maya lied.
"Right," Missy intoned sarcastically. "So why are you wearing those hideous shoes, then? To distract from those awful braces?"
There was a split second where Maya thought about turning around, of choosing to be the bigger person. But, that wasn't exactly in her nature and what Missy was saying was eerily familiar.
"Did you send those texts?" she asked and walked slowly towards the taller girl.
"What texts?" Missy said, sounding genuinely confused.
Maya ignored that though. "Because you're a lot less insulting in person," she continued. "But I'm glad you talked to me today, Missy. Because now? I get to do this."
With that, Maya tackled the girl to the ground and started punching her in the face. Missy screamed, whether in rage or fear Maya wasn't sure. She didn't remain passive though, and pulled hard at the blonde's hair causing a satisfying shriek from its owner. A crowd of people began to gather - drawn by their screams and shrieks - creating a circle of eager and frightened students. There were no teachers in sight, and fortunately none of her friends who would have prevented her from exacting revenge.
"How could you say those things?!" Maya screamed, digging her nails into Missy's arm.
"What, call you short?" she taunted back, even as she slapped at her.
The former growled and pinned Missy's arms down.
"No, you've said a lot worse things for me to be upset about!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, sweetie." She jerked away from Maya's grip, and rolled them over, trying to hold her down instead. She succeeded, smiling in triumph, and stuffed grass and dirt into her opponent's mouth. "Maybe your brain has been messed up from all that time spent with those friends of yours."
It was the wrong thing to say. Maya's eyes grew dangerously bright, and spitting the earth back into Missy's face, she slapped her hard on the cheek, causing the girl to lose grip of her.
"How dare you say anything about my friends!" the blonde yelled, shaking the brunette forcefully.
It turned back into an all-out punching fest then, the dominance flipping back and forth between the two girls. Both were yelling insults at one another all the while, and the circle of students watching had to keep spreading out as they rolled further and further across the grassy field.
There was a sigh of relief from some of the students, when the principal, a couple other teachers, and Maya's friends pushed through the crowd. The girl's gym teacher and Lucas moved forward together. The woman yanked Missy away from Maya – no easy task given how they were still clawing at each other – while Lucas bent and picked his friend up by the waist while she continued to kick and scream. Missy's eyes seemed to mock her infuriatingly, as Maya continued to yell loudly at her in between protests to Lucas as he held her back tightly. Riley, Farkle and Zay watched worriedly from the front of the crowd; wanting to help, but knowing they couldn't do anything.
"Maya!" Lucas reprimanded through gritted teeth.
She finally stopped struggling at his rebuke, but her chest rose heavily with each breath, and her eyes were full of hate and anger as she glared at Missy. Lucas knew he couldn't let go of her yet despite her stillness, so she unwillingly remained pinned in his grasp.
"What is the meaning of this?" Mr. Douglas demanded as he stood between the two captive girls looking from one to the other.
"She attacked me!" Missy accused, pointing a finger at Maya.
"You little—" Maya tried to lunge at the other girl again, who shrieked and flinched, but was unsuccessful as Lucas held her arms tightly.
"Darn you, Cowboy." Maya muttered angrily.
"Well, Ms. Hart? Is that true?" Mr. Douglas asked.
She scowled. "Yes, but—"
The principal raised a hand. "There are no excuses for violence. Really, Ms. Hart. I am extremely disappointed in you."
"It wasn't just me!" Maya argued.
"I was only defending myself, sir." Missy lied, sounding like the innocent girl she wasn't.
"That doesn't excuse your behavior either, Ms. Bradford." He crossed his arms. "If someone "attacked" you, as you say, then you should have come to an adult. There are better ways to solve things than with violence." Mr. Douglas looked at Maya again, saying the last part to her.
She fumed, and tried to wriggle out of Lucas's iron grip on her arm.
"Not all arguments are unprovoked either," The blonde stated.
"I'm aware." This time he glanced pointedly at Missy, who was sulking from her reprimand. "But, we can discuss this behavior in my office later. Mrs. Nichols, can you take Missy to the nurse's office please? I'd like a small word with Maya, first."
The gym teacher took her hands off of her hips, and sternly yet gently nudged the brunette forward, walking slowly to match the girl's pace. Everyone could hear her loud words of scolding, and some of the students snickered.
Maya was itching to race after Missy once more, but she tried to stand still so Lucas would let her go.
"Huckleberry, please unhand me now," she persuaded, throwing in a joke and a small smile to convince her captor.
"Maya—" He shook his head.
"Please? I'm calm now."
Lucas hesitated, but reluctantly let go, eyeing Maya carefully, relief flooding him as she simply stood there. The moment was over quickly, as she sprinted after Missy and tackled her once again to the ground. Missy shrieked, but this time, before she could do anymore damage, she was grabbed roughly once again from behind.
"Lucas!" she shrieked in protest.
Missy quickly got up, brushed the dirt off her skirt, and scurried away; but not before giving Maya one last satisfied smirk. The blonde girl still tried to reach after her, the anger fueled fire inside too big to contain.
The observing students' whispering captured their principal's attention. Mr. Douglas narrowed his eyes, and cupping his hands around his mouth to reach the all the ears of the large crowd, told everyone to go to class. The students reluctantly left, disappointed at having to miss more of the lecturing than they already were.
"You too." Mr. Douglas raised his eyebrows at Riley, Lucas, Zay, and Farkle, who remained planted by their friend's side.
"With all due respect sir, we'd like to escort Maya on to the nurse's office, if that's okay?" Farkle explained.
He considered this, before nodding dismissively, and turning to Maya.
"You do realize there are consequences to your actions, correct?"
She scowled. "I don't want to talk about this. It's her fault she got beat up, and I don't really care if I get suspension anyway."
"Maya." Riley touched her arm gently, trying to remind her to think before she spoke.
"We'll talk about this later, but there will be a discussion. All I wanted to say was that if it is true that you started the fight, it's going to reflect poorly on you—"
Maya began to speak, but he stopped her with a disapproving look.
"I'm not excusing Ms. Bradford, I'm just reminding you of what we've already discussed." Mr. Douglas glanced at his watch before, turning to them, and looking them over suspiciously.
"I hope I can trust you all to get her to the nurse's office?"
"Yes, sir," They all replied, with the exception of a certain blonde.
"Good, and when the nurse clears you, I want you at my office." The principal directed his words to Maya. "Again, while I do not condone your behavior, I hope your injuries aren't too severe. Please make sure you get them checked out."
He said the last part with a rare smile, but she couldn't find it in her furious heart to return it. Sighing in response, he headed back up the school's front walk, while Maya finally let her anger completely consume her. She couldn't calm down, no matter how hard she tried, and she was trying her best to get Lucas to let go of her. Now, that Mr. Douglas was gone, she wouldn't get reprimanded for "attacking" another student.
"Will you stop it already?" he protested as she kicked at his probably already bruised shins.
"I'm going to kill Missy." Maya cried furiously.
"I think you already did enough." Zay shook his head, in part fear and in part awe.
"What were you thinking, Maya?" Farkle asked, his face full of disappointment; which really stung.
"Oh, shut up. You weren't there!" Maya threw out thoughtlessly.
"Yah, but I know you don't just solve problems by beating people up!" he snapped back.
"She did her fair share, I assure you," she replied, referring to her face which felt raw and was throbbing.
"Stop, Farkle." Riley flashed him a look. "Give her some grace."
The boy guilty shrunk back, and offered his other friend an apology. "I'm sorry, Maya. Riley's right...are you okay? You look awful."
"Gee, thanks, Farkle." She said, less anger in her voice this time.
Her strength had finally started to wane, and she wasn't struggling half as much anymore. Lucas still held her firmly though, and was giving her an indecipherable look.
"Will you let go of me?" Maya glared at him.
"No way," he said and shook his head. "You aren't getting away again."
"I'm fine now," she tried.
He refused; partly because she was unpredictable and partly because he could still see the anger and fire in her shining eyes despite her words. Looking down at her injured face and seeing the fiery emotions there reopened his own store of bad memories, and it hurt.
He gave into those feelings. "Did it feel good?" Lucas asked as he felt his own anger rise suddenly. "Huh? Did it?"
She didn't answer.
"Well? How did it feel to mess someone up?!" Lucas demanded and shook the girl slightly.
"Lucas!" Riley reprimanded, stepping forward, and displaying unusual boldness. "You both are ridiculous! She just got seriously hurt, and all you can think about is how bad she was."
Riley's voice distracted him long enough from his anger that he saw reason. "Sorry...I'm really sorry," he sighed, disappointed in himself.
"You know what this means though, don't you?" Farkle spoke up again, though much less assertive.
They all looked at him in knowing reluctance.
"Suspension," Zay said, speaking for all of them.
Riley watched Maya's reaction, still observing her as she had been doing since she came out of the school. She had never seen Maya like this. No matter how angry she had gotten, Maya had never physically harmed someone, and it kind of scared her.
"Good. I can't wait to get out of here," Maya spat.
"You don't mean that—" Riley furrowed her brow.
"Yes. I do," she insisted forcefully.
"Man, you know what that was like?" Zay said, drawing the attention away from the girls. 'Texas Lucas' in female form. Seriously, Maya. That was some crazy stunt you pulled."
She made a frustrated sound in her throat. "It wasn't some stunt okay? And again, it wasn't just me!"
"We know, Peaches," Riley consoled.
"Obviously they don't."
"We do, Maya. We're just disappointed in you, too." Lucas tried to justify their words.
"And besides, it's kind of hard to ignore the fact that you look pretty beat up yourself." Zay added. "So, unless you got attacked by the grass, somebody else was fighting you."
Maya pursed her lips, trying to judge their sincerity. "Okay, how bad does it look?"
Riley patted her on the shoulder. "You always look wonderful."
"Riles."
"It probably looks worse than it actually is." The brunette offered.
The rest of them surveyed their friend, glancing over her injuries sympathetically. Her hair was a disheveled mess filled with grass and dirt. There was a large brown stain covering half of her white shirt, and one of her shoes had gone missing. Then there was the effects of Missy's half of the fight. Maya's left eye was starting to swell and bruise, already painting her with the nasty colors of purple, blue, and yellow, while her split lip was puffy and red. Her nose was bleeding slightly, there were plenty of bruises and cuts dotting her arms and face, and she was limping slightly—though probably partly due to her missing shoe.
"Let's just deal with this later," Lucas decided. "Maya has somewhere she needs to be."
"And we'll talk about what caused the fight later as well, although I have a good idea of what it could be." Farkle glanced at Zay, who sighed in sad agreement.
"It's not your job," Maya reiterated.
"The decision has been made, Peaches," Riley said determinedly, and folded her arms, but not before hugging her gingerly. "I hope you're okay."
"How are you so calm about this?" Maya asked, bemused.
She shrugged, and glanced at her other friends who were wondering the same thing.
"Oh, come on you guys. You know it'll all come out later, don't you?" Riley smiled. "And I already know she'll be just fine."
"There's the optimist." Zay muttered.
Maya sighed, and allowed Lucas had to half drag her. She was admittedly difficult in going, but she followed him towards the school, dreading the conversation she knew waited inside.
