Day 29

It was Monday when Maya was allowed to return to school. She had already visited her probation officer twice and had been assigned an ankle monitor to make sure she was in her house outside of school and after school activities. It was hard to find any sort of shoe to wear with it, so before she left for school she settled on flip-flops that made it clearly visible with her shorts.

She entered the school in the morning and looked over her shoulder every so often to make sure no one was looking at her. She could feel everyone's eyes on her as she walked through the halls. Everyone had heard of her arrest by that time. She didn't think anyone besides Zig, Zoe, and Grace knew she was pregnant so that was something she had going for her.

When she reached her locker, she felt arms encircle her midsection. The blonde froze before realizing it was Zig. She had already become very defensive of her belly.

"Hi Zig," Maya said in a voice that faked exhaustion. Once her backpack was in her locker she turned in his arms to get a look at his face. She pressed a quick kiss to his lips. She was surprised at how little things had changed since her pregnancy was announced. He treated her exactly the same. He didn't even mention the baby unless she started the conversation.

"Nice hardware," Zig commented on her ankle monitor. Maya's face fell and she looked down at it.

"Is it really that noticeable?" she asked. Zig sighed and shook his head.

She knew he was trying to come up with something nice to say. With the shorts she wore and the flip-flops it was definitely visible. "N-No?" he grimaced.

Maya looked up at him with an exasperated expression. "Don't lie," she flicked the side of his head, jokingly. He kissed her cheek and gave her a squeeze. He seemed to remember the baby and loosened his arms a little.

They parted and Zig wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Everyone is going to forget this when something more interesting happens. I promise."

"Until my trial. It'll be dug up all over when I go to court and get put in jail," she replied with a sigh.

"You can't think like that, baby. We have at least a month to think about that. We're going to figure out something. This is Rodney's fault and I'm going to make him go down for that," he comforted. Maya nodded and looked up at him with a hopeful expression.

"Thank you," she whispered and he squeezed her shoulders again. This time he rested his hand on her stomach. It felt so protective and made Maya feel love for him she hadn't felt for him before. It was something entirely new that was a good thing that had happened in this mess that was her life.

They entered the Rubber Room and Grace stood up when they walked in. Maya gave her a sad smile while she walked over. Grace sat back down on their table and Maya joined her.

"Look who's finally back," she greeted Maya. Maya gave her a look that told her to shut up. Grace laughed a little bit. "I really like the fashion statement."

"Shut up," Maya shoved her with her with her shoulder.

"How are you feeling? Are the fun parts of pregnancy deciding to show up?"

Maya shook her head. "No. It's weird. All the books say I should be throwing up like twenty-four seven but nothing. I get cravings and my stomach hurts, but none of the really bad things. Maybe I'm just lucky?"

"I guess you've got a big storm coming for the second trimester then," Grace reasoned. Maya shrugged.

"I hope it's that glowing period," Maya crossed her fingers. It was Grace's turn to give her a shove.

"You're tough. You're gonna be okay, Matlin," Grace smiled at her. Maya returned the smile. She hoped that Grace was right about that.

Miles watched from where Tristan slept in his bed. After his incident, Miles had been letting him stay at his house. When he explained the circumstances to his mom, she allowed it. It was a way to keep Tristan out of his house if people were really gunning for him. He didn't know if it would be a long stay but he had an instinct to protect the other boy for as long as he could.

Tristan was still recovering from his overdose. He was in the hospital for a day and Miles only left when the nighttime came. He told himself it was because he wanted to make sure he was okay after he saw him like that. That it wasn't because there was this feeling that was deeply ingrained in him to protect Tristan. That would be ridiculous.

It was Monday and they had missed school since Thursday. Mrs. Hollingsworth said it was okay and so did the school. It was a major medical issue. Allowing Miles to stay with him was a little harder, but they fought that Tristan needed someone with him. They had until Thursday of that week to get back to classes. After that they would start losing credit.

Miles walked over to the bed when he saw Tristan start to stir. He sat on the side of the bed while he woke up. The other blinked a few times to adjust to the sun light streaming in from the windows. He yawned and sat up in the bed. He had been a relatively good patient. Miles tried not to take advantage of it though. He knew the withdrawal symptoms were going to start kicking in as he spend days without his pills.

"You don't have to watch me wake up every morning," Tristan said in a voice that was only an octave above a grumble.

Miles knew he didn't have to. But he felt like he needed to. Seeing Tristan just lying there and not waking up caused some sort of trauma for him. He needed to be there to make sure Tristan would awake this time. Whenever he looked at his sleeping form anxiety would hit him in large waves. What if he didn't wake up this time? He couldn't go through all of that again.

"I know," Miles whispered. He resisted the need to put his hand on his face. He was cooler than that. He didn't need to show that vulnerable side to anyone, even someone he had been in a relationship with. That was just something he could not do.

Tristan sat up a little in the bed so he could see him better. He blinked a little more until he was able to open his eyes completely. "This is getting excessive. You don't have to stay with me. You're missing school, Miles. I'm okay. I can go home."

Miles shook his head. "I haven't seen Dougie or any of them. I want them to be visible before you go back home. They're less threatening when you can see them. Okay Tris?"

Tristan only nodded. His face was still screwed up in guilt. That was how he looked every morning. Miles was growing tired of seeing that face. He didn't like seeing Tristan guilty like that. It made him look like he felt guilt for his overdose. Miles knew there were other factors and he didn't want him to apologize for that, no matter how much it had affected Miles.

Miles put a hand on his cheek. It felt so intimate for him. He wasn't an affectionate person like this but he couldn't help it. Touching Tristan meant he was still there. It meant he was awake and okay. He wasn't lying there in a car with no breaths leaving his lungs.

"You know I never stopped loving you," Tristan whispered. It was something he hadn't said to Miles yet. It took him by surprise and he didn't know what to say. What did you say to that? He didn't know if he still had feelings like that for Tristan. He knew he cared for him. If he didn't, he wouldn't be lying there in his bed. He wouldn't feel the fear that coursed through his veins whenever his eyes closed or he took an extra deep breath.

"I know," was all he said. He leaned forward and placed a comforting kiss on the other's forehead.

Knowing Maya was out of jail didn't make Zoe feel any better. She still had the weight of Zig's idea weighing heavy on her heart. He wanted her to betray Grace and try to fall into bed with Tatiana. It would make Maya's case better, according to him. She would find out more from Tatiana and tell the court about it. That would make Maya look innocent or at least give the judge some sort of doubt about whether or not Maya deserved an overly rash sentence.

She made it through school without any big amounts of worry. It was rehearsal that she was worried about. She had been creating her distance from Grace recently, but hours of having her talk and move her around would be difficult. She couldn't ignore her when she was doing her job and directing her.

She contemplated skipping but knew her part was too big to skip. She had to be at every rehearsal if she planned on not making this a complete disaster. All she had to do was make it through two hours of full Grace contact and she would be golden. It couldn't be that hard.

Zoe spent the majority of rehearsal running her lines with Zig. They weren't even close to being off book. It was looking a little dismal for them. With everything going on with Maya, it was hard to focus on anything else. They went through the shop scene and began working on the final scene. Watching Zig pretend to get shot over and over was a little rough with recent events being considered. It was almost scary and telling. Zoe told herself it wasn't but there was no denying it was uncanny.

During one of their breaks, Zig tried to approach her about their deal.

"Have you talked to Tatiana yet?" he asked in a hushed tone. Zoe looked up at him with worry.

"I haven't. No one has seen her in days," she explained. Her lack of sighting of the other girl was a good excuse. Tatiana, Rodney, and Dougie had been MIA since the day of Maya's bail hearing. Zoe couldn't help but feel worried that they were cooking up something particularly terrible. Seeing them would have been more comforting.

Zig didn't bring it up for the rest of rehearsal, though it still distracted her. She had to be yelled at by Grace more than once about how she wasn't following her mark. Zoe was seconds away from yelling back when Grace ended practice. Zoe heard Grace call her name but ignored it and left the auditorium as quickly as she could.

While she was storming out of rehearsal, Zoe felt her body collide with another. She was about to apologize when she saw who it was.

"Tatiana?" she asked with disbelief. Seeing her again seemed like an out of body experience. Zoe had seriously considered the idea that Tatiana was gone forever. Her making an appearance blew that idea to shreds.

"Hi there Zoe," the girl said with that devastatingly charming smile. She hadn't changed at all within the last few days.

"I have to talk to you about something," Zoe grabbed Tatiana's arm and drug her into the closest bathroom. She checked the stalls to make sure no one was in there before she started to speak. "I've missed you."

She was trying to use her flirtiest tone and Tatiana ate it up. "I've missed you too, beautiful."

Zoe swallowed. She didn't know what she was doing. Why didn't she just turn Zig down? She didn't have to do it. She was reminded of all of her and Maya's prior arguments. They weren't even friends but obligation was taking her over. It wasn't for Maya. It was for Zig.

"Where have you been?" she asked, stepping closer to her. Tatiana shook her head while tucking some hair behind Zoe's ear. That was Grace's thing. Feeling someone else doing it made Zoe feel dirty.

"That's not important," Tatiana said in a husky tone. Zoe really wanted to know, but if she was doing this she had to ignore that. She would make her warm up to her before she started asking questions.

"Okay," Zoe whispered. She felt immense guilt as she leaned forward and pressed her lips against the other girl's.

Tatiana looked surprised at first but quickly warmed up to the idea. They kissed and Zoe was surprised by how much she enjoyed it. Tatiana was different than Grace. She felt more experienced, like she knew what to do with another girl's lips. It completely took Zoe's breath away.

When they parted, Zoe gasped for air. "Wow," she breathed.

Tatiana winked and stepped away. She swaggered towards the door, but paused before opening the door. "Meet me outside tomorrow and there will be much more where that came from."

Zoe nodded and watched her leave. She touched her lips. If she wasn't a cheater before, she definitely was now.

Grace looked for Zoe after rehearsal but saw no trace of her. It was concerning, thinking that she ran off like that. Things between them had been weird since Maya's hearing. They barely talked anymore and Zoe was actively avoiding her. Grace didn't know what she had done to deserve that. Maybe it wasn't her. Maybe Zoe had done something she regretted. Tatiana could be right that she was a cheater.

Instead of talking to Zoe, she saw Zig packing up his things. Grace stood from her seat in the audience and walked onto the stage to him.

"How are you doing, Novak?" she asked. He looked up from his things with tired eyes. It looked like he hadn't slept in days and she could believe that he hadn't. With everything happening with Maya, it made sense that he was tired. All of it was happening so fast and Grace was sure he was getting whiplash.

He heaved a heavy sigh. "Good? I don't know. She's out of jail and that's something, right?"

Grace nodded. He wasn't wrong. Things had calmed down considerably now that she wasn't locked up anymore. That didn't mean everything was over though. Her trial was coming up within the month and things were looking pretty bleak. It was a minimum two year sentence for what she was convicted of. That meant many things, including her having to have her baby and give it to Zig until she finished her sentence. That was reasonably terrifying for the boy.

"You know you don't have to pretend to be okay if you're not?" Grace suggested. He stood up straight and put his backpack over his shoulders.

"I can't act upset in front of her. She's already going through enough right now. A boyfriend who's acting like a chick is something she doesn't need," he responded. Grace gave him a sympathetic look.

"Being scared about your girlfriend and baby mama going to jail is a reasonable fear. Especially seeing that she is your baby mama," she persisted. Zig looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath that made his entire torso expand.

"I know she'll be involved but if she's in jail I'll basically be a single dad. I can't do that while I'm still going to school. I'll have to drop out," he said in a voice that was obviously panicked but trying to play it cool. Grace put her hand on his upper arm.

"You're not going to have to drop out. Besides, they're gonna get Rodney for this. We all know that this is because of him. We just have to get him to admit it," she said in an attempt to comfort him. Zig looked down at her with sad eyes.

"How are we going to do that?"

Grace wasn't completely sure how they would. Rodney was a hard person to catch. If you were close to his trail, he would disappear. That was what was happening right now. The three idiots were close to being caught so they went into hiding. No one knew where they were. It was almost impossible to follow their trail when they were so good at covering their asses.

"This is all typical for him. We just have to be a step ahead of him," she explained. She didn't know how they would do that but it sounded like the best thing to say. Zig was good at that kind of thing so she was sure he would come up with something.

"A step ahead of him…" Zig mumbled and Grace hope that he was already thinking of something.

"You know I'll help you, okay?" she looked at him seriously. He nodded and flashed the first smile she had seen in days.

After his talk with Grace, Zig was focused on getting ahead of Rodney in this whole ordeal. He had to figure out what his next move would be. He had spent so much time with him that he knew his strategies. That gave him a leg up against him. He just had to focus and think of what Rodney would do.

He got to Jose's and sat down on his bed. He opened up his laptop and tried to write something on Word. It was a way to get his ideas about this whole thing out. He would delete it immediately after but it was a more secure way then writing this all on a piece of paper. He didn't need Jose finding that in his room.

He closed his eyes while he thought. Rodney was very much about subtle action. All of them were. He wouldn't just go into a place with guns blazing. He fell under the radar and carefully dissected a situation. He would make a decision like he was playing a game of chess. That was why being a step ahead of him was so hard. Every single movement was so meticulously constructed in a way that no one would ever guess.

Maybe he would choose the least threatening member of his group to do his dirty work? That left Zig with the inquiry of who he would choose. He could make a case for both Dougie and Tatiana. Dougie looked dorky and unassuming. He had a face that authority figures and students alike trusted. But Zig didn't know if he was capable of making extreme choices. That was where Tatiana came in.

She was sneaky like a snake. She was very deliberate in her choices of who to talk to. She would find someone vulnerable and squeeze the life right out of them. They were usually lesbian or bisexual girls who were just figuring out their sexuality. That was where Zoe came in. She had found an interest in Zoe that made her a valuable asset. Zig just had to make sure Grace didn't find out about that.

Zoe seemed like the person to talk to. She could infiltrate their circle and figure out their plans. Zig could ask her for what they were doing and make his move accordingly. He didn't know what his move would be yet. Violent action appeared to be the most promising option. He was focused on making Maya and his baby safe. He would go to any lengths to do that.

He started thinking of that and he couldn't get it out of his head. He was so scared. He was scared for Maya and he was scared for the baby. He wasn't ready to be a single father who raised their baby while Maya was locked away. He knew nothing about parenting and all of this was happening too fast. He wanted to be a dad, but not now. He wanted to be in a good place before he thought about raising a kid.

All these thoughts motivated him to open up the internet. He switched to private browsing, seeing that Jose didn't know about Maya's pregnancy yet. He knew he should tell him but he was scared. Everything that was going on made him scared that Jose would kick him out. He couldn't handle that. Not again.

He opened up Google and tried to think of what he should search. He had so many scrambled thoughts that he could control. He finally decided on 'what's it like to be a single father at seventeen?' An abundance of single parenting websites popped out. As he browsed through them, he realized the majority were for single mothers. There were a few teenage single mother links but nothing that fit his search. He groaned.

He went back and typed 'single teenage dad.' Some of the same links popped up and he scrolled through the new ones that came up. There was a selection of ones about single dads. They were all about divorced single dads. They were closer to what he wanted but nothing that really applied to him. But how common was it for a teenage boy to raise his kid alone while the mother was in jail?

That made him clear his search and enter something different. 'Minimum sentence for drug trafficking,' was what he searched next. He opened some of the links and saw that they all agreed on two years if she was selling at the school. That gave him an idea.

What if he could prove that she wasn't selling at the school? Even if she had been, he could still instill some sort of doubt. A year was still terrible but it was less. He wouldn't be alone with the baby nearly as long.

If they were able to get Rodney into court, she could be charged with a simple possession charge. That had a maximum of six months in jail. It wasn't ideal but she would be out of jail before the baby. That was the most glamorous option. All he needed was to catch Rodney and they might be able to be a family for their child's entire life.

The day for Tristan had been uneventful. Miles and him sat in the other's room and worked on the homework they had been sent by their teachers. They would have aimless conversations that didn't evolve into anything. It was a day full of sitting and leaving the bedroom only for meals. It wasn't that Tristan minded much. He loved being around Miles even if they weren't speaking.

Tristan was grateful that Miles was the one who found him. He was just glad someone found him. By the time he had swallowed the handful pills he took he was already regretting it. He tried to make himself throw up but was unconscious before he got any of them up. After that, all he remembered was the ambulance coming and picking him up.

He was in the hospital as they treated him and he was released to his parents when they allowed him. Mrs. Hollingsworth and his mother had a long talk about Tristan's safety. His parents agreed that it was a good idea to keep him at the Hollingsworth house until all of this had blown over. He denied them when they suggested both police and rehab. They were hesitant to accept his request, but they did nonetheless.

He was growing stronger every day and he was sure he would be back on Thursday. Having Miles with him was helping him raise his strength especially. It reminded him off why he loved Miles. He came off as this unfeeling asshole but really cared. He cared with every piece of him when you were someone who meant something to him. That included Tristan apparently.

Miles agreed to sleep on the couch while Tristan used his bed. Tristan tried to convince him that he was fine with the couch but Miles insisted. Tristan knew better than to fight Miles on something. He would always loose and he was too tired for a fruitless argument.

Tristan fell asleep at nine o'clock, which was reasonably early for him. He was still exhausted and hadn't gotten back all of his strength. He felt better but was still under the weather.

He slept until the clock read two thirty-four. He awoke to the feeling of something crawling up his body. It was like ants were running up his legs and arms and he thrashed to get them off. The noises that came out of his mouth were enough to wake Miles up from the couch. He entered the room with his eyes squinted with sleep.

"Tris?" he asked, walking over to the bed. Tristan looked up at him with eyes that he figured must look wild. The bugs were all over him and he couldn't get them off.

"They're crawling on me," he whimpered and Miles pulled the blanket off. There was nothing on him but that didn't stop the feeling. Miles' face softened.

"There's nothing there, Tris. It's all in your mind. I promise," Miles whispered. He obviously didn't want to wake up the rest of the house. He looked towards the door and sighed. Tristan felt the weight shift as Miles changed into a lying down position. He wrapped his arms around Tristan and kissed his hair.

"They're everywhere," he said in a teary voice.

"You're okay," Miles whispered into his hair. His voice was comforting and almost distracted Tristan from the crawling sensation. "You're okay."

Tristan didn't know if he believed him but he softened into his touch anyway.