I own nothing but Ethan and my crap writing. Enjoy!

"So, really, Maya. What brought on this realisation?" Smackle asked after the boys left to go order food.

"I don't know what you mean." Maya merely replied, feigning ignorance for as long as possible.

"Maya. I'm not really well versed in what is known as "girl talk", but you can tell me something and I will offer advice to the best of my abilities." She told Maya, her signature smile on her face. Maya paused and mulled over her options. She'd thought about the answer last night, but what really solidified was later in the night, or earlier this morning.

"I guess you could say, I met someone." Smackle's eyebrows raised, and she leant forward as if they were exchanging top secret information.

"Really? Who?"

"Just a guy. A really hot, funny guy." Maya said with a silly grin on her face.

"And you have feelings for this guy?" Smackle prompted, causing Maya to splutter.

"I don't know. I just- well I don't know."

"Well you must feel something, for blood is rushing to your cheeks through what is known as blushing. Or perhaps you have Idiopathic Craniofacial Erythema, but that is quite uncommon and-"

"Ok, Smackle, I like him." Smackle grinned and opened her mouth to speak when the boys came back over.

"Don't say anything." Smackle nodded and smiled at her boyfriend when he put an arm around her shoulders.

"And what are you two lovely ladies talking about?"

"Just a boy Maya likes." She then stopped and gave an apologetic look to Maya who was now giving her quite a withering look.

"Who?" Maya groaned, her headache returning in full force.

"You don't know him. It's nothing."

"Doesn't seem like nothing." Replied Zay as he bit into his muffin.

"It's nothing." Maya growled through gritted teeth. Zay raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender.

"Fine, it's nothing." Maya nodded approvingly, and they sat in silence for a while.

"So what's his name?" Maya slapped her hands against the chair's wings, trying to burn a hole through the guy with her eyes.

"OH MY GOD ZAY!"

"I'm just asking! What, we can't be apart of your life?"

"No, I just- UGH! I don't know where this thing is going yet, so I don't want to get your hopes up." They sat in silence again until Maya sighed in exasperation and stood up.

"Look, I gotta go do... homework. I'll see you guys later, ok?"

"Ok, bye Ma-" But she was already gone. And they wouldn't see her again until Monday.

"Hey Ethan, me again. I had a really good time the other night. I don't know if you do that type of thing often, but I... well I just didn't want it to be a one night stand, so um... well today's the last day of me waiting, so if you want to say something, you could just text me. Or call. Or email. Or send a carrier pigeon. I don't really care. Um... bye." She spoke to his voicemail then hung up. She sighed then tapped her phone to her forehead as she thought. Maybe he should call him once more. Or was that too desperate? What if-

"Hey Maya, what are you waiting for?" cried Riley from the school steps. Maya gave a fake smile, and followed her up the stairs. Maybe she had gotten her hopes up too high. Wouldn't be the first time. She linked arms with her best friend, trying to act like she wasn't dying inside.

"So Lucas asked me to be his girlfriend!" Maya nodded noncommittally, head still caught in the clouds of Ethan.

"Hmm? Oh, that's great."

"He said he didn't want to be with anyone else!"

"That's great."

"And then later we braided each other's hair and watched chick flicks."

"Fun."

"Maya! You're not even listening." Riley scolded her best friend quite harshly. Maya sighed as they turned to enter Mr. Matthew's classroom.

"Sorry Riles, I just have a lot on my mind."

"What could be more important than Lucas and I finally getting together?" Maya inwardly rolled her eyes, what was the world when it wasn't revolving around Riley.

"It's nothing. I'm happy for you." She said instead, pushing the most cheery smile she could onto her face.

"Are you sure? You're not having second thoughts, right?"

"Definitely not. Took you kids long enough." Riley giggled as she took the seat in front of Lucas rather than where she usually sat. Maya smiled as she took Riley's usual seat instead.

"You disappeared on us yesterday Maya. What happened?" Farkle asked from behind. She turned and gave him a fake smile.

"Sorry, I just needed to get some air. I'm fine now."

"No you're not." He shot back. She sighed, hating how observational Farkle was. He knew most of her secrets before she even had them.

"No, I'm not. But I'm getting there." He nodded slowly before turning back to the front. They waited there in silence until it became obvious that Mr. Matthews was late.

"Hey where's Matthews?" She asked looking around the room. Riley gave her a pointed look.

"Maya, you're not thinking of jumping on the desk, or doing something crazy are you?" Maya gave her best friend an odd look, one Riley couldn't quite figure out. Is that really what they thought of her?

"Nah, I don't really feel like it." The whole class gasped and stared at Maya. Seriously? That was what she'd been reduced to? Some kind of circus act?

"But Maya, that's who you are," No it's not, she thought, "The troublemaker, the crazy one! You do wacky, troublemaker things, then I clean them up for you. What's going on with you?" Maya sighed and dropped her head on her desk.

"I'm fine Riles. I'm just not up to it today." Maya mumbled, not looking up at her best friend. Riley stared at her best friend, not understanding what was wrong. She'd been acting strange since Friday when she'd snuck out.

"Maya-" Before she could finish her sentence, her father walked into the room, cringing slightly, as if waiting for some madness to be going on. When he realised nothing was wrong he shot Maya a look, then his daughter one.

"Um... Sorry for being late class. I was busy showing a new student around. Ms. Hart, could you please pick your head up," he asked. Maya slowly lifted her head up and gave him a blank look surprising him, "Uh, alright then. Class, I liked you to give a warm welcome to-"

"Ethan?" Maya asked interrupting his speech. The boy had entered the room during his introduction and was currently smirking at Maya. The entire class glanced back and forth between the new boy and a shocked looking Maya.

"Um, yes. Do you two know each other?" Mr. Matthews inquired as he glanced at the two.

"You could say that." The boy replied grinning at Maya in a way that made Mr. Matthews slightly uncomfortable. He had always felt like Maya was another daughter and didn't like the way the boy was looking at her.

"Well, there's an available seat in the back of the room. Go on." The boy nodded at the teacher and began to head to his seat in the back, but not before stopping to whisper something in Maya's ear. Cory gave the boy an annoyed look, but tried his best to concentrate on the lesson at hand.

"So... the battle of Yorktown."

A/N: Ah kiddiewinkies, so we begin the descent into the angst central.