It seemed as if Liam had made a decision about her sometime over the weekend. It was the only explanation for the complete return to normalcy between them. He had greeted her cheerfully when she had stepped into the art room that lunchtime, and had even given her a brownie he had had his aunt set aside especially for her. It had been absolutely delicious, complete with chocolate chips and a caramel sauce that had definitely given her a sugar high for her classes that afternoon. She hadn't questioned Liam then, partly because she hadn't wanted to rock the boat, but also because she wasn't certain what Mr. Jackson did or did not know. And so, she held her peace rather than risk revealing something Liam might have wanted to keep private.

However, now, with all the other members of the art club gone, and with Mr. Jackson waving them out, saying that he could finish the last of the clean-up himself, Maya decided that now was the best time to try to get some answers out of him. Liam's locker was a lot closer to the art room than hers, and so they headed there first. It would be just the two of them. In the beginning, Emily would be waiting at the door to the art room once the club was dismissed. That habit though had stopped a few weeks back, probably because now Liam had guaranteed company afterwards. And, as she now knew, company for Liam was generally an assurance that he would be safe.

"Are we ever going to talk about this?" she asked nonchalantly, leaning against a neighbouring locker while he fiddled with his lock.

To Liam's credit, he didn't react visibly to her question. Neither did he, for once, try to distract her or divert her attention away with jokes, insults, or any other form of subterfuge.

"I don't think we really need to," he responded carefully.

"And what gives you that idea?"

"Because it's been exactly five days since you've found out and you haven't acted any differently towards me. So, I decided to give into my delusions for a bit and assume that that's not going to change. Therefore, I rather not have any sort of conversation that's going to prove to me just how wrong I am to think that."

"You sound very uncertain for someone with a cut or be cut philosophy," she pointed out.

He snorted at that, finally pulling his locker door open. "I'm probably getting soft in my old age," he returned, "but you're really not someone I want to lose."

"Is this you admitting that you love me?" she cooed, reaching out to pinch his side.

He let out a soft sound of wry amusement. "Whatever Blondie."

"You love me," she teased before laughing out loud when she saw a flush start to creep up on his neck in response to her statement. "You aren't delusional," she told him, a bit more seriously, "at least not in this."

Liam closed his locker once he had stuffed the last of things into his bag, and slung it onto his back. "You really mean that? You're okay with…everything."

"I'm not going anywhere. You're not going to lose me over this."

"As if I wanted to keep ya," he grumbled, walking off. Snickering she fell into step beside him. "I will admit," he continued, "it's pretty nice to not have to deal with excuses for once. Thanks for that."

"What do you mean?"

"Care for a sob story?"

"I'm sure your life's not that tragic," she joked, "but go ahead. I can go for a good tale."

Liam scoffed lightly at that, but started to relate his personal history to her anyway. "If I think about it, Alex and I have always been a thing. We just made it official when we got into seventh grade. It wasn't even a big deal or anything…it just happened and that was that. We didn't even have to make the big old announcement to any of our friends. Honestly I think some of them realised what was going on before we did. I'm not trying to paint a rosy picture by any means," he added as they reached to her locker, "but generally, most people were fine with it, with us. Then eight grade started and I had to move and transfer schools and things…changed."

"And not in a good way," Maya guessed, as she started to gather her belongings.

"You could say that," he responded with a self-depreciating laugh. "Most people were just…neutral, but there were a few who decided to make it their life's mission to make mines' hell. Probably didn't help that I was firmly entrenched in goth fashion, but between that and my relationship, I got pretty banged up on occasion. And, unfortunately, some of those people graduated to here with me and passed the word along to other undesirables, one of whom you had the pleasure of meeting last Wednesday."

"A meeting I could do without a repeat of," she said, closing her locker door. "Come on," she bid, cocking her head. "Walk and talk, That."

"So demanding," he joked, but heeded her. "My second middle school life sucked in comparison to the first and, when it came time to start high school I ended up here while all my real friends went ahead to Jones. I only had a handful of people in my year here that, at the time, I considered to be friends, but when the bullying continued, and then got even worse, the excuses began."

"Excuses?"

"It was small at first, and I didn't even notice. Some people said they couldn't hang out after school anymore because they were busy, grounded or had a club. Other people suddenly had study groups at lunchtime, and yet were in the cafeteria for the entire period. People stopped taking my messages and calls, no one wanted to do projects with me…the list goes on and on," he related with false cheerfulness. "And then one day the worst happened. Got asked to meet one of them near the locker room one afternoon, and like a sucker, I went, like a stupid little puppy glad to get a scrap of attention. They weren't the ones who showed up though."

There was a grimness in his last few woods that had Maya nearly tripping over the last step leading out of the school as she looked toward him. "Who showed?" she asked carefully.

"I rather not talk about that," he said, and there was an unflinching firmness to his tone that she had no choice but to respect. "Maybe someday I'll tell you, but not now, okay?"

"Okay," she accepted.

"Thanks." They were standing at the corner of the street, waiting for a chance to cross when he started to speak again. "Those friends I mentioned," he said, picking up where he had left off, "they cut me out, but I took that as a lesson and I adopted it as my mantra. I started to take people out of rotation myself, starting with anyone who lied to me. Because that's what excuses are, you know? Excuses are just lies people use to feel less shitty about themselves."

"I've never seen it that way."

"You should," he encouraged. "People do it thinking that they're sparing your feelings, but in truth, you feel worse once you realise you've been had. I've had more than enough of that, and so, the minute I see that someone's not interested in my company, adios son. Don't let the door hit ya in the rear on your way out."

Maya contemplated his words for a while before confessing, "My dad made excuses. Said that his leaving wasn't about me and my mom. That he just wasn't ready to be a dad. That there wasn't anything he could do for us."

"That's a load of bull."

"I know," she agreed. "His job was to stay."

"Only if he was a good one," Liam amended.

"What?"

"Would he have been a good dad if he'd stayed or were you better off without him?"

Maya thought about it, recalling the near constant arguments that had happened between her parents towards the end, the way she'd creep out of her bedroom when the noises stopped and saw her mother just crying brokenly on the couch, or her dad muttering to himself as he shuffled through papers – papers she only now realised were more than likely bills. Bills that he had apparently thought would disappear if he just left. Well, in a way she supposed that they had…at least for him.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "Things weren't good, but...they weren't the worst either. And," she added bitterly, "he got better. He's a great dad to the kids he's got now."

"Ouch," Liam intoned, wincing sympathetically. "That's got to hurt."

"You don't know the half of it," she muttered, narrowly avoiding a collision with a pair of laughing little boys running up the subway steps. "What happened with your parents?" she asked. "I mean, if you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah we can talk about that," he answered. "My dad died when I was eight."

"I'm sorry," she offered, startled.

"Yeah me too. He was the greatest guy alive. My mom…not so much. Let's just say she was one of the people who didn't take too kindly to Alex and I."

"In what way?" she asked cautiously, a growing sense of unease nagging at her.

Liam didn't answer until they'd reach the platform. He took of his bag, and placed it on the floor between his feet to secure it. Then, after assessing her for one long moment, he pulled up the sleeve of his jacket, not the easiest task given how snug it was. Maya hissed as the beginnings of a raised scar was revealed on his forearm. She had little doubt that if he pulled it up further, more of it would show. It was probably why she had never seen him in anything that wasn't long-sleeved.

"She did that to you?" she asked, her voice cracking.

"Small price for saving my pretty face," he responded with false-cheer as he righted his clothing.

"And that's why you live with Emily," she guessed, even as her mind tried to wrap around the fact that someone could actually hurt their own child in that way.

"Bingo," he said, picking up his bag back up. "A cop lived on the floor, heard the commotion and busted the door down. She tried to fight it, but it's pretty hard to convince anyone to let you keep a kid you tried to kill, no matter how much she tried to claim it was just a spanking that went a little too far. She got probation and I got a new home with Uncle Jake and Aunt Casey, and that was that. So see what I mean? If your dad wouldn't have been a good one, no matter how rough things got without him, it was better off for him to have disappeared. Plus, you seem to really like the guy your mom's dating now. What was his name again?"

"Shawn," she supplied, before shaking her head, trying to shake the feelings listening to Liam had evoked. She didn't know what she could do or say that would express justly how she felt about what he had experienced. However, more than that, she felt so grateful and yet also humbled by the fact that he had been willing to open up and share that much with her. And so, she settled for reaching out and squeezing his arm. Liam acknowledged the gesture by briefly settling his hand over hers and he gave her a genuine fond smile.

Of course, in typical Liam fashion, he ruined what probably was the most heartfelt moment between them yet by letting that smile morph into his usual annoying grin. "So," he asked cheerfully as the train pulled up, "now that you've unlocked my tragic backstory, are you even more enamoured with me?"

"Way to ruin the mood," she grumbled as she pulled her hand away and boarded the train, Liam right behind her. "I was almost feeling sorry for you."

"I rather your love than your pity."

"How does Alex deal with you?"

"The same way you do, sweetheart."

"I rather Blondie," Maya told him.

"Sweetheart it is," he declared.

Maya opened her mouth, prepared to respond in a way that would undoubtedly have them bickering until they got to his stop, but her phone vibrating distracted her. "Hang on there a sec," she bid, answering.

A minute later, she hung up, completely confused and wondering just how a cookie could qualify as a code red emergency.


The mass exodus of her friends from Riley's window was surprising, so surprising that Maya stood at the bottom of the fire escape and watched as, one by one, the boys descended, led by a distressed looking Zay. She narrowed her focus to him. Zay never let his hurt show, not unless he planned on using its revelation to his advantage; whatever was wrong had to be serious. He didn't even seem to notice her at first, but his dark eyes settled on hers when she stepped directly into his path and put a hand against his chest, stilling him.

"How can I help?" she asked simply, because, after all Zay had done for her lately, there was no way she was going to let that look remain in his eyes.

"There's nothing you can do," Zay said roughly. "Your friend is a lunatic."

"Zay," she breathed, confused by the venom in his tone.

"Look, I can't do this right now," he told her, taking a deep breath as he visibly tried to calm himself. "Let one of them tell you, but Maya, I need to go for now." Despite his still gruff tone, Zay's grip on her hand was gentle as he dislodged it. "Bye Maya."

"Go after him," she said immediately, turning to Lucas and Farkle. "Don't leave him alone. He's really upset."

"We'll go," Smackle said coming up behind them. "Honey bunches, come on."

Maya frowned minutely, wondering why Smackle hadn't come down the escape as well, but, glancing down she got her answer. She made a mental note to teach the girl how she could get in and out of the window in a skirt without giving the whole street a show.

"O-okay," Farkle agreed. "You'll handle this Maya?" he asked, glancing up to Riley's illuminated window.

"I'll do my best," she promised, and, reassured, Farkle and Smackle took off down the street after Zay.

"What happened?" she demanded, once they were out of earshot. "Farkle called code red."

"Riley went too far," Lucas said tiredly, walking back to the fire escape and sitting down on the steps. "Today was Cookie Day. Riley ate the cookie and then insulted how it tasted."

"What? Why would she do that?"

Lucas sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose as if seeking patience. "I don't know if your class has to do the same thing, but we had a debate today. It was Riley versus Farkle and Riley lost. She didn't take it too well and Mr. Matthews decided to turn it into a teachable moment, so now everyone except Riley has to argue in favour of being good. Riley has to do evil."

Now it was Maya's turn to pinch at her nose. She didn't need Lucas to speak any further to know just how badly Riley would have responded to that directive. "But what does that have to do with her eating the cookie? Oooh… To prove that she could be bad."

"Basically. "We came here to give her a chance to apologise. But she was almost belligerent and now Zay's more upset than ever."

"Oh Riley," Maya groaned. "She's gone off the deep-end. You guys have no idea how to deal with that."

"Apparently so," he muttered. "Can you? I can't believe she did this. Riley's good; she doesn't just go around hurting people."

"Not deliberately," she acknowledged, twisting her mouth slightly. "Look Lucas, go after Zay okay? I'm not sure that Farkle and Smackle can handle him as well as you could. You know him best."

"I could say the same for you and Riley," he replied. "Maybe we should just have gotten you after class had ended."

"I can't always be there to help her," Maya said. "It's not what she needs."

"Maya-"

"I'll handle it," she interrupted. "Go after Zay."

"You sure?" he asked, coming closer so he could examine her face. "You seem…tired."

"When am I not tired?" she joked, before adding, "I'm fine, really" because her attempt at humour did nothing to reassure him. "It's just been a draining sort of day."

"Then maybe you don't need this right now."

"Riley needs me," Maya answered, offering him a tight smile. "And Zay needs you."

"I know but-"

"One of your best friends needs you, cowboy," she said firmly. "I'll take care of your girlfriend, you take care of him."

"And who's going to take care of you?"

"I can take care of me."

Lucas let out his breath at that, and still, even though she was now actually starting to shove him in the direction the rest of them had gone, he seemed concerned about her. "Call me later?" he finally requested.

"That's a fair compromise," she agreed. "So please, go."

"Okay," he responded, because finally, thankfully, leaving.


Maya blinked slowly, almost owlishly as she listened with half an ear to the conversation emanating from the classroom she was standing outside of. Riley owed her big time for this. She could be working on her draft sketch during this period - the last of the day before she had glee club - but instead, she was standing outside Matthews' classroom, waiting to go in but also hoping that it wouldn't become necessary for her to do so. She closed her eyes, but the painful grittiness she encountered forced her to immediately reopen them. The dry, stinging feeling was only slightly better, and wearily, she considered just abandoning the club for that afternoon so she could sleep.

Matthews was speaking again she realised, coming back to the present. And, while she supposed whatever he was saying was quite riveting, she didn't bother to focus too much on it. After all, she had the man the following day, and, while the debate topics would be different, she didn't doubt that he'd use the same spiel, so why listen now? She only paid attention when she heard Riley speak.

"Please don't be mucking things up," she whispered, because honestly, while they had talked for a long time, she wasn't sure that the lesson had been fully learnt.

"I can't change the fact that I ate your cookie Zay," Riley said from within, "but I hope you could forgive me."

"Why should I?" he demanded, and yup, he was still definitely pissed. Hadn't Lucas said that he'd calmed him down, or was Riley really just making things worst?

"What can I do?" Riley pleaded, and Maya could envision the tears in her eyes.

"Get me my cookie back!" Zay snapped.

Groaning, Maya straightened. She definitely needed to intervene. And so, forcing more energy into her tone and step than she actually felt, she sauntered into the room, a bag held loosely in her left hand brushing against her thigh. "Sup losers," she greeted loudly, drawing all eyes to her. "Heard you guys are having a wee little problem."

"Oh thank god," Sarah breathed out in relief. "Save us from this please."

"What she said," Darby agreed, looking up from the phone she had been furtively using from her position near the back of the group.

"I'mma try," she reassured them, before putting down the bag for now.

"What are you doing here, Ms. Hart?" Matthews asked.

"I'm not talking to you," she replied, pointing her finger at him.

"Maya," the teacher started.

"Not talking to you Matthews," she re-affirmed. "I'm just here to out the wildfire you started."

"Haven't you realised by now that there's a method to my madness?"

"Oh, and Zay getting hurt was a part of that?"

"Well, no," he admitted, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Then hush and let me deal with this."

"There's nothing to deal with Maya," Zay said. "I don't think I can ever forgive her."

"Just give me a chance okay?" she requested, moving to stand between the two podiums. "So, from what the cowboy said this is supposed to be a debate about good versus evil right?"

"Right," Lucas confirmed, looking at her curiously, as if trying to suss out what her motive here was. After all, she hadn't mentioned any of this to him in the previous night.

"Riley here," she continued, "was supposed to learn about being evil, and she did. I think we can both agree that you enjoyed it, right Riles?"

"For a bit," Riley said in a small voice.

"And being evil is fun sometimes," she told the group, shrugging a bit. "I remember taking a lot of you for a joyride through Mayaville, and there weren't any complaints."

A murmur of agreement passed through the crowd, causing Maya to smirk in remembrance.

"Woah Maya," Lucas interjected, "you can't classify yourself as evil."

"The braids this one had me put in her hair says otherwise," she said, only partly joking as she reached out to tug at one. Truthfully, once Lucas had given her the context she had been missing, Maya hadn't found Riley's seemingly innocuous request so innocent anymore. Riley had deliberately wanted to embody her whilst carrying out this presentation, and, Maya had to admit that stung more than just a little. Yes, she was the dark one, the bad one between the two of them, but was she actually evil in her friend's opinion?

"Don't worry Hop A Long," she added, "I'm standing in the middle for a reason." She offered him a smile that she wasn't quite certain reached her eyes if the crease that appeared in his forehead meant anything. "Anyway," she said, refocusing, "Riley?"

"I was too evil," she lamented.

"And that's when it stopped being fun right? Because you realised you were hurting people."

"Exactly," she agreed, before looking at Zay. "I feel really bad Zay. I knew what I was doing, but I didn't think about the consequences of my actions."

"You hearing that, Hambone?" Maya said, shooting Matthews a glance. He, in response, only sighed and looked away.

"I even wrote you a cookie song Zay."

"I forgive you," he deadpanned immediately, and despite her mediator role, Maya had to snort as he made to embrace Riley. Crutch or not, Zay's humour really was effective, and it took real effort to not be distracted by it.

"I want you to mean it Zay."

"Let's resolve it without torturing the boy," Maya said wryly. "The point I'm trying to get at is that Riley did something wrong, something bad, but she took no pleasure in it after the fact. That shows that there is still good in her. And that's what my proposition is. Just like light and dark co-exist, so does good and evil. But they must remain in balance or else disaster will happen, in this case a forbidden cookie was consumed and while we can't change that fact, we can acknowledge it and try to move forward from it. Zay, Riley has always been good, maybe at times too good, and because of that, when she fell, she fell hard. But she didn't stay down and she's fighting hard to balance herself now, starting by apologising to you."

"Yeah and maybe I don't want to be good either," Zay said testily. "Maybe I don't want to do the right thing and forgive her. Maybe I don't want her to feel good. That cookie meant a lot to me."

"And would your grandma be happy knowing that you're putting a cookie above a friend?"

"Low blow Maya," Zay protested, although he visibly deflated at her words.

"Am I wrong though?" she asked, walking closer to him. "Come on Zay," she added more softly. "I've been there, you of all people know that, but Riley didn't mean to cause as much damage as she did."

"Then maybe she needs to start learning the consequences," he argued. "You guys keep letting her off the hook every time she does this, and somehow you dragged me into doing that as well. And I don't want to do that anymore because it's no good for us, and it's no good for her. Wasn't that the reason you left the Riley Committee in the first place? Why are you even here now?"

Maya had no answer for that.

"You even going to tell her how she hurt you today?"

"I what?" Riley said, surprised.

"Forget about that," she snapped, pinning Zay with a glare when he made to speak again. "This isn't about me in any way. This is about you and Riley and the fact that you know that you're going to forgive her. Not because of what it'd do for her, or even us, but for what it would do for you. If you don't forgive her, you're going to carry that resentment around. And that kind of resentment grows and grows until it consumes you and you take on the big things and the small. You don't want that Zay."

"Speaking from experience there, huh?"

She chuckled at that. "I'm still learning how to do that myself, but I've found that trying to let go brings its own rewards."

Zay sighed deeply, but nodded and looked past her to Riley. "I forgive you Riley. But please, find a balance okay?"

"I will," she promised, and Maya stepped back as they hugged, genuinely this time.

The class started to clap in response, and, relieved, Maya moved so that she could sit. Now that had been exhausting. "Bring us home, Matthews," she directed, deciding to take a bit of her own advice.

"I don't have anything to add," he replied honestly. "Ms. Hart wins the debate."

"Don't expect me to pay attention tomorrow then," she warned, before reaching over to pick up the bag she had brought in with her. "Zay, think fast," she called, before tossing it at him.

He caught it, barely, and opened it. Seconds later he gasped audibly. "Cookies!" he squealed.

"What?" Riley gaped as he took one out and sniffed at it.

"These are grandma's!" he added, turning wide, excited eyes her way.

"Good is sometimes rewarded," she smirked.

"But how?"

"Got your grandma's name off Huckleberry and contacted her," she explained, slouching down in the seat as her tiredness made itself known once again. "Took a bit of convincing, but she gave me the recipe on the condition that I only give these to you if I believe you deserve them. And guess what? You deserve them."

"Why didn't you just hand them to him from the start?" Riley demanded.

"There were lessons to be learnt," she responded sagely. "Share Babineaux. There's plenty for everyone."

"Yes ma'am," he said happily, before doing just that after handing her one.

Biting into it, Maya leant her head back, prepared to catch a few minutes of sleep before the class ended. It had taken her six tries to get that recipe right, but, seeing the results of her efforts, she decided it was worth it. She only opened her eyes when she felt a light hand on her shoulder, and turned her head slightly to see Lucas looking down at her.

"Hey," he said softly, sitting on the edge of her desk.

"Hey yourself Huckleberry. What's up?"

"I'm proud of you," he told her, his voice deeper than normal.

"I hardly did anything," she returned, striving for a dismissive tone even as she felt her cheeks flush at the praise.

"You did a lot," he contradicted gently. "More than anyone could ever expect you to, and I am very proud of you because of that princess."

That only made her blush deepen and, making a bit of a distressed sound, Maya looked away. Lucas laughed softly at that and, trying and failing to glare at him, Maya decided that this would be the last time he would get away with calling her that ridiculous name without consequence.


A/N:

If "Girl Meets Creativity" is anything to go by, no matter what, it is integral to continue to fight for what you believe in, and right now I firmly believe in "Girl Meets World". In case anyone has not heard, Disney has cancelled the show, however, we, the fandom, refuse to accept this. Now is the time to put aside all ship wars, character hate etc and unite behind the fact that this is a show that has done so much for us on so many different levels and that we want to see reach the conclusion the writers ultimately want. At this point the possibility of Disney Channel reneging on the cancellation looks grim, but also, we have to consider whether the show's creater, writers, actors, and other staff *want* to return to the network.

This show has consistently been the number one viewed one on the network, and, the day after cancellation garnered nominations for two awards. Therefore, we the fandom are campaigning strongly for a next forum to pick up the show for a new season (and maybe beyond that) and this is where you come in. There are over 250 of you subscribed to this story. Netflix has already taken notice of our interest in them acquiring the show, however, insiders at Disney have given notice that Hulu may be a better option than Netflix as the latter may not be able to continue the show without buying out Disney's rights to it, while the former is partially owned by Disney and thus may be a more feasible option. Freeform is NOT an option in any real way now. So please, let us let our desire for this show to be continued be known.

This is what you can do.

1) For US citizens or those with US payment plans, contact Hulu and let them know of your interest in the show being continued. This can be done via calls or through the website's support system as they only cater to their members. However, ANYONE can email their support address, and you can promise to become a subscriber (if possible) if the show is acquired.

2) For non-US citizens like myself, please focus your attention towards Netflix. It may be difficult but they can at least try to acquire the series if they believe it a worthwhile investment. Both members and non-members can request shows to be added to Netflix. You can email, call, or message their customer service team. Also, if you are able and willing let your interest be shown on their Facebook feed. Netflix also tracks legal AND illegal means of watching a show. So, once again like myself, if you live somewhere where you do not have access to the Disney Channel, or do not have a Netflix subscription, continue to watch, continue to torrent, continue to do whatever you have been doing. Netflix tracks this and the more activity seen is the more interest generated on their part. ALSO, watching Seasons 1-2 on Netflix AND simply searching for Girl Meets World on there also helps in the endeavour.

3) There are two petitions on Change. Org regarding the matter. One asks for Netflix, Hulu and Freeform to consider taking up the show. The other asks for Disney to give up/sell their rights to the show if they are approached. Sign both if possible and share it.

4) There are plans in the work for tweeting events for the next three weeks as each episode airs (please watch still if possible, don't give any of these networks the cause to say that the viewship is too low for them to bother trying to acquire it). Hashtags include #girlmeetsnetflix and #girlmeetshulu.

5) No matter what, please be respectful. We are asking for these companies to potentially invest a LOT of money into acquiring and producing Girl Meets World. Therefore focus on the positives, what the show has done for you, on children, teenagers and adults and the impact you think you can still have. Now is not the time for bashing via these mediums.

6) And a less friendly approach is to start boycotting Disney. After Girl Meets World ends, stop watching. Unfollow them on their social media and be vocal about why. Disney execs are under the assumption that the backlash from cancelling the show will not be that bad. Let us show them that they are wrong.

Whether or not you choose to participate in this is up to you, but I am letting you know that we have options, and we can fight this. It may not be a battle we can win, but we will not simply accept this lying down quietly.

Sincerely,

Chereche