Chapter 7

Lucas was pretty sure he was going bald. Everyday he was filled with crippling fear for Maya's well being and it was causing him a lot of stress. Earlier he counted eleven hairs on his tee-shirt. The whole situation was causing him to lose his hair!

He hated lying to Riley and the Mathews but Maya swore it was the only option. He wanted to tell his parents more than anything but he knew they would call a lawyer and send Maya's mom to jail. And Maya could be sent anywhere to a random family and he knew thats what she was scared of.

Truthfully he would be heart broken of she had to leave. He would never tell her that but without her New York wouldn't be the same without her. It wound be missing the little blonde girl that ran away completely unafraid of it. Lucas wouldn't be the same without Maya and he knew it. But he hated not knowing what happened when she went home. He wanted her to be safe more than anything.

He was especially worried about tonight. It was the parent teacher student meeting. They would all go to school tonight to meet there second semester teachers and discuss the first semester grades. It would be the first time Lucas had ever met Maya's mom.

She said she told her mom not to come but the lady insisted. She wanted to see where Maya wasted all of her time everyday. Lucas could already tell trouble was coming. Riley had mentioned earlier that tonight was the first time she would be seeing Maya's mom in over a year. If Riley and Maya were best friends and Maya spent so much time with the Mathews how did Riley never wonder about Mrs. Heart.

After changed into the so called "appropriate clothing" as his mom called it they headed out to leave.

Lucas would always consider himself a Texas man at heart, but one thing New York kicked ass at was Christmas. Bright lights covered everything and there was a decorated tree on every block. Santas filled the streets. Lucas liked the snow too. It may have been reduced to slush on the streets but it was better than the none they got in Texas.

When they had finally made it to the school Lucas noticed they were ten minutes early. His dad called this the "Friar way" he called it being a gentleman, but Lucas thought it was a waste of good time. He liked being nice and Texas like but sometimes his dad turned being kind into being excessive.

He noticed the Mathews walk in a few minutes late and went to greet Riley. She seemed to be in her usual chirpy mood, but something didn't feel right. Being near her felt awkward and uncomfortable. The same way it had in their date the other night. Being around Riley was always something that had been easy. Now that they had tried to take it to the next level and failed everything felt wrong.

"Hi Riley," He greeted. "Hello Mathews." He nodded at her parents. Something seemed tone bothering them. They both seemed to be wearing fake similes.

Mrs. Mathews gave him an exaggerated version of the fake smile she'd had on earlier. "Hi Lucas are you having a nice night."

He nodded and smiled politely. "I am thank you for asking." His words felt fake and stupid =, but they seemed to work fine. As soon he said them they both walked into Mr. Mathew's room talking in hushed voices.

Riley had been starring at the ground avoiding eye contact with him the whole time and she was still doing it. He was about to try and start an awkward conversation when something saved him. "Hello Lucas," Farkle ran over smiling. He turned towards Riley. "And how are you gorgeous?"

Riley laughed as if he were kidding with the pickup line. "I'm doing swell how are you Farkle?"

"I'm wonderful thank you Riley." He said before asking. "Did you guys hear about all the new teachers we're getting?"

Riley gave him a confused look. "What new teachers?"

"The new young ones. My dad says that they came fresh out of college with a ton of teaching degrees. He said schools are looking to save money so the new thing is that teachers learn to teach different classes and they have a better chance of getting picked up full time." Farkle told her. Lucas tried to motion him to stop talking.

"My dad has been working here for seven years and they only just let him on full time last year." Riley said.

Farkle's eyes widened as if just remembering her dad taught there. "And I'm sure he'll stay full time. He teaches a ton of classes."

"Yeah," Lucas said trying to make her feel better. "And nobody would ever want any history teacher besides your dad. He's the best."

Riley looked like she was about to have a melt down when Maya showed up to save the day. Lucas smiled when she walked in but his face fell a bit when he saw the woman who walked in behind her. She latched onto Maya's wrist tightly when she caught up to her.

She was blonde like Maya but her hair was up in a bun thing and she wore huge sunglasses and a lot less clothes than the other moms. She looked young probably 32 or 33 almost more like a sister of a fifteen year old than a mother.

Maya walked slowly towards them with her mother hot on her heels. Riley was quick to greet her with her usual smile. "Hi Mrs. Hart it's wonderful to see you."

"Hi Ryan," She said while giving Lucas an extra long once-over.

Maya gave her mom a look and hissed, "It's Riley."

Her mom tightened her grip on Maya and gave her a hard look. "Watch your ton missy."Maya flinched.

Nobody said anything for a while until Lucas finally decided to speak. "My name is Lucas ma'am and this here is Farkle." He pointed at Farkle.

"Now Maya," Mrs. Hart smiled at Lucas. "Why can't you be more polite like this you gentleman."

Maya shook her head. "Sorry I wasn't born in Texas."

Mrs. Hart's smile turned into a scowl. "I need to head to my meetings. I better here good news." She gave Maya a warning look.

Her mom took off and everybody seemed to simultaneously let out a breath. Riley looked towards the extracurricular booths. "Come on Farkle help me sign up for stuff!" Riley screeched dragging Farkle away.

Maya laughed a bit but her face remained emotionless. She was staring at the wall next to Lucas's head trying to avoid eye contact. Lucas let her have a few moments of silence before it got to him. " What's wrong?" he asked.

She still wouldn't look at him. she just shook her head and look towards Riley. "Maya Can you please tell me what's on your mind."

Maya looked at him but he felt like she was looking straight through him. "What if the teachers tell my mom on me? I mean i know i can be bad, but if they tell my mom she'll be so pissed." She told him almost on the verge of tears. "I didn't want her to come i swore it wasn't important. I promised it was nothing important but she wouldn't have it. I should've been better. I should've done better in school."

Lucs wanted to comfort her but he didn't know what to say. He had been worried about it too. Maya could be a lot to handle and not every teacher appreciated her actions. She was loud and she spoke what was on her mind. It was his favorite thing about her. He really didn't want to lie to her, but he didn't want her know the truth.

He grabber her shoulder and looked her in the eye. I'm here for you ok," He tried to comfort her.

She leaned her head onto his hand took a deep breath. "Thank you."

He nodded at her assuringly. "Of course," he told her.

Suddenly as if coming out of a trance she looked at his hand on her shoulder. She blushed slightly and pulled away from his touch. "I..." She got cut off.

"Maya! Where are you? We need to talk about something! Now!" A voice yelled. Maya hurried off towards where the voice came from leaving him behind.

He looked for where she had taken off to but something got in his way. "All your teachers seem to love you!" his dad said proudly. "They all speak very highly of you."

"Thank you dad," Lucas told him trying to see into the crowd. He couldn't find her anywhere. "Have you seen Maya?

His dad shook his head. "No but I saw her mom early and she did not seem happy." He gave Lucas a look. "You be careful with that girl now son. None of your teachers seem to have good news to give to her mother."

"You don't know her." He bit back.

"Are you back talking me son?"

"No sir. I'm just correcting you."

"What has gotten into you?" his father was mad now.

Lucas knew he needed to stop arguing and go find Maya so he sucked up his pride and gave into his father. "I don't know I'm sorry, but i really need to find someone." His dad nodded at him still a bit hurt from the conversation.

Lucas ran out through the halls until finally he heard screams coming from an door leading outside. He could hear someone yelling but he couldn't make out what they were saying.

When he got closer he knew it was Maya's mother yelling something about Maya being a waste of time and money. After a little while longer he heard a loud crash followed by a screech of pain. He saw Maya's mom coming his way so he ducked behind the lockers. The second she was out of sight he ran out side.

What he saw was enough to haunt him for the rest of his life. Maya was on the ground by the dumpster cradling her left arm which seemed bent at a painful angle. There was a large cut above her left eye and her lip was busted. She looked completely broken, but she pulled herself off the ground still cradling her arm and that's when she noticed him.

She seemed surprised to see him there but not angry. She looked a bit ashamed. Her eyes left his face and stayed staring at the ground. He took a step closer to her then another and anther and soon enough he was standing in front of her.

He brought his hand up to look at her injuries but she flinched away from him. "Lucas I'm fine seriously." she told him. He knew she was trying to convince herself more than him.

"Don't lie to me," He said inspecting her face. "You are definitely not fine. Now tell me the truth."

She looked at him for a second then the tears started falling. He pulled her closer handheld her she cried. He wanted to help her. To take all of her pain away. But he didn't know how. So he just held her close to himself.

All he wanted was for her to be ok.