Chapter 12

I waited for someone to pick up. Nothing.

"Come on, come on," I begged, starting to worry for Riley.

"Maya, my parents are probably gone out already, I told you they were bringing Auggie to his soccer game."

"Okay," I said, with a sigh, giving up. "Come on, let's get a cab so we can get you warm." We walked out to the street and I hailed a cab.

"Bit early in the year for swimming, ain't it?" the driver joked. I scowled and gave him Riley's address. I held Riley close for the whole ride, trying to keep her warm.

"Why didn't you just call your mom and Shawn?" she asked me.

"I-I couldn't," I told her.

"Why not?" Riley asked.

"Because I told them I was going out with you and I don't know how they reacted, I left before they could," I explained. "They're probably mad."

"Oh..." Riley said. "Maya, you should have told me."

"I didn't want to ruin our night, not that it matters now," I said.

"Our night isn't ruined," Riley said. "It was nice until those jerkfaces showed up. When we get to my apartment we can watch a movie or something, it's not that bad."

"You're right," I agreed. I looked out the window, smiling. I loved how Riley saw the good in situations. She made life so much more worth living. When we got to her building, I rushed her inside and into her apartment. We went into her room. I got a towel for her from the bathroom. "Here, take off your wet clothes." Riley eyed me suspiciously.

"Just don't look," she told me. I turned away.

"Okay, I won't," I said. I lied.

"I'm dressed," she said, a few minutes later. I turned back around, not being able to keep myself from smirking.

"You looked!" she scolded, blushing and tackling me onto the bed.

"Hey," I said, laughing. "If you really hadn't wanted me to look, you wouldn't have let me stay in here."


I woke up to the sound of an unfamiliar alarm. I opened my eyes and realized I was still in Riley's room. 'Oh, crap...' I thought. I must've fallen asleep while Riley and I were talking. I noticed Riley waking up. She stretched and yawned, shutting off the alarm. Then she noticed I was still there.

"Maya! What are you doing still here?" she asked.

"Shh!" I quieted her. Her parents would kill me if they found out I'd spent the night.

"You're gonna be in so much trouble for not going home last night," she told me, as if I hadn't already figured that out.

"Yeah, I know, I guess I fell asleep here last night and never woke up to go home," I said.

"Come on, get up, you can borrow some clothes," she suggested.

"Okay," I agreed. My leather jacket was still on the window seat where I'd left it. I took off my jewelry and put it on Riley's dresser.

"Here," she said, throwing me a t-shirt and hoodie. I pulled off my tank top to replace it with the grey shirt Riley had given me. "Maya!"

"What? Never seen a bra before?" I asked, with fake surprise. I put on the shirt and pulled the hoodie on over it.

"You could've gone in the bathroom to change," she said.

"Come on, don't tell me you didn't like what you saw," I teased, smirking. Riley blushed.

"Here, put these on," she said, changing the subject and giving me a pair of sneakers. I changed out of my boots.

We finished getting ready and Riley went out to the kitchen. I left through the window and when it turned seven o'clock, I buzzed up to the apartment like I normally did, as if nothing had happened. Riley invited me inside, Topanga offered me some food and I accepted. Then, Riley and I left for school.

"I can't believe we got away with that," Riley said.

"We haven't yet," I said. I held up my phone to show her the texts I'd recieved from my mom the night before.

'Where are you? It's past your curfew,'she read. This was followed by. 'Maya, get home, now!'and 'Maya Penelope Hart, it's nearly 3 am, where are you?!'

"What're you gonna say?" Riley asked.

"Probably something like, 'I was scared to come home 'cause I thought you'd be mad'," I replied.

"You shouldn't lie," Riley said.

"It's technically not lying," I said, writing the text and sending it. "I was scared to go home, I just happened to fall asleep."

When we got to school, Riley sighed.

"Here we go!" I said, taking a deep breath and waiting for the overwhelming stampede of curious students.