Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

"Zay"

"Yes Riley?"

"If you don't stop tapping your pencil on the locker I'm going to take it and shove it down your throat!" Riley seethed through her teeth threatening him, He stopped immediately, throwing the pencil down the hallway"

"Right. Sorry." he apologized. The two stood there in the hallway by Riley's locker, the gangs usual hangout, waiting for everybody to show up. Riley knew Farkle and Owen were on their way but she had no idea where Maya and Lucas were or why they were running late.

"Zay..."

"Yea?" he responded boredly.

"Where's Lucas?" Riley questioned.

"Not here."

She rolled her eyes.

"Well duh Zay I know that. I mean where is he and why isn't he here?" She huffed a small strand of hair away from her face.

"He's... somewhere" Is all he told her. They sat in silence for a while.

No tension at all. Zay saw this coming. As soon as Maya texted him, he saw this coming. He just wish he got to him sooner but it was too late.

His mouth opened and closed trying to find something to ask. When he just decided to go with a simple question.

"Riley..."

"Yes, Zay?"

He took a while to answer back.

"... Do you... Know where Maya is?"

Riley turned to look at him, "Not here." She smirked.

"Touché" he said back. Farkle showed up with Owen. Guess they took time to become friends on their own, He thought

"A fine morning if I do say so myself. Less colder than the other days hmm, Sir Farkle?" Owen said with a British accent.

"Oh indubitably my good sir. I say we go out to May's bakery and find ourselves a fine brunch now shall we?" Farkle replied playing along.

"What's with the accents?" Zay asked with furrowed eyebrows, pointing his finger between the two. They both shrugged.

"I don't know just felt like it." Owen responded.

"Any sign of Maya or Lucas?" Riley questioned the two.

"Maya told me she would be running late because she had to deal with...something." Owen averted his gaze from Riley. She looked hurt. How come Maya told him or not me!

"Gasp! Now you listen to me Owen, you can't just wiggle your way into our friend group just because you're... you're...Maya's boyfriend or whatever but Rilaya comes first! Maya should've told me about this, not you! Rilaya is more important ok! Remember it!" She yelled at him.

The three boys stared at her incredulously until Owen busted out laughing. The three of them focus their attention to the light blue eyed boy now confused as ever. Owen wiped his eyes with his finger as if he was crying of laughter.

"No no no you got it all wrong. I'm not Maya's boyfriend. I'm like the brother she's never had." Farkle then stopped him there.

"Hey! That's my role. I'm Maya's brother. Farkle goes first Farkle always go first!" He then cringed for a moment. "Wow I have not said that in a while".

"You guys got it all wrong, I'm gay"Their necks turned so quick Owen swore he heard some sort of crack. He chuckled a bit. People seemed to always react that way when he had first came out.

"You're what!" Farkle shouted.

"Awww why do all the cute guys have to be gay!" She whined. Farkle raised his eyebrow at her. Riley hesitated for a minute.

"Uhm... W-what I meant to say was Wha- you're gay!" She gasped dramatically.

"Wow I would've never guessed. I mean you don't really act or sound gay." Zay said surprised.

"Excuse me, how does someone act or sound gay!?" Owen was triggered.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in that way" he quickly apologized. "that's cool. Y-you being gay and all. I'm okay with that" Zay scratched his neck nervously trying to dig himself out of the hole he just put himself in.

"Good job, Isaiah," Farkle chuckled at him.

"Aye, I don't like when you use my full name Minkus!" Zay pointed his finger at him.

"Well does Maya know?" Riley questioned ignoring the two bantering and at such good timing too.

"Do I know what?" Maya asked as she walked up to the four.

"Owen just told us that he's gay" Farkle told her. Maya shrugged it off like it was old news.

"Yeah I know, I hope that's not gonna be a problem..." Maya said suspiciously.

"No. Nononono, of course not Maya. We're happy to accept him." Riley told her reassuringly.

"But on a more important side note, Why did you tell Owen you were running late and not me!." Riley began to whine again.

Maya sighed, "Honey, I was already talking to Owen on the way and it just made sense." Riley's face faltered.

"Peaches, are you trying to keep things from me again. I thought we promised to never keep secrets!" Riley's hand fisted.

Farkle ignored the two bickering best friends and whispered to Zay and Owen.

"Let's head to my locker. Let's give them time to talk about this. The first Bell won't ring anytime soon." Owen and Zay nodded and followed behind Farkle to his locker.

"Riley, Some things are just better kept unsaid from you." Maya told her truthfully. She didn't think this was the time nor place to tell her about anything pertaining to the situation.

"Yeah and you can tell Owen, someone you barely even met or known as long as I've known you Maya?!" Her voice was starting to get louder and she didnt want Riley to draw attention.

"Riley, quiet down. We are in public. I don't want you to draw any attention" Maya said softly.

"I dont care! I just want to know why you told them instead of Farkle and I!"

"Riley it's not that big of a deal. Next time I'm running late I'll make sure you to tell you first."

"Maya it's more than that. I'm not just talking about this little thing I'm talking about everything else." It didn't take long for Riley to tear up a little. It's not that she was sensitive, it's just that she gets emotional when it comes to Maya.

The shorter of the two sighed, "It's cause- it's cause Owen understands my situation. And Zay?, He's Lucas's friend and happened to be somewhere at the right time."

"And I'm you're best friend Maya! If Zay gets an easy pass cause of Lucas why can't I get an easy pass because I'm with you?" Her eyebrows furrowed. Trying to piece her own words together. Maya massaged her temples. She had just got here and she's already frustrated.

"It's because you won't understand it! I need someone w-who will know the right things to say to me."

"Fine. Because you're keeping yet another secret from me, Maya... Don't talk to me unless you're ready to tell me what's going on." Riley stated simply. Maya expected that, as if this happened to them before, it has. Riley looked into her eyes, searching for something, any answers. When she realized Maya won't say anything back, she walked away.

"Alright let's just get this over with and tell me what's going on with Maya and Lucas." Farkle wasted no time in asking. Zay and Owen gave him a pointed look.

"I have nothing to say to you" Zay said.

"I second that" Owen agreed.

Farkle shook his head at the both of them.

"Riley's right you know. Why is it that you know anything about this, whatever is going on with her, if she barely met you" he pressed Owen.

"She knows me, she definitely knows me. I didn't just show up out of nowhere asking for her back story. I actually found her and she just so happened to tell me more than she expected to." Owen admitted. Zay looked him amused.

"I hear a story coming along."

"I have math class with Maya but we never actually talked until two months ago outside at the courtyard." Owen said.

Owen was out on the schools courtyard, smoking a cigarette. His bitchy parents were on his back that morning and he really needed relieve a lot of stress. He noticed a petite blonde sitting on the small bench. She was, drawing?, He couldn't tell as her one arm was holding her side covering his view of what she was doing. Curiosity got the best of him, so he dropped his cigarette, stepped on it till the fire was out and walked towards her.

"Hey" the small girl jumped slightly and winced but tried to cover it up. He pointed towards where she was holding her side.

"You alright?" She nodded in response. Ok so she's quiet he can live with that.

"Ok. well, can I sit down?" She moved over and patted for him to sit.

"So you're an artist?" He questioned. she nodded again.

"What are you drawing?" She took a minute to respond.

"I was drawing the tree over there, none of the leaves had fallen off it yet. I thought the leaves on the ground and the wind blowing everything made for a nice little autumn picture so, I took out my sketchbook and started drawing it."

He was intrigued. Caught up in had a soft yet harsh sounding voice, it sounded like she hadn't spoken in ages. He noticed she seemed a bit gloomy so he took it upon himself to make he smile, maybe even laugh as a bonus.

"Ahhh so she speaks!" He joked, She chuckled a little bit and gave him a warm smile. She then furrowed her eyebrows looking at him as if she was trying to figure him out.

"You look like some kid in my math class. Uhm what's his name. Owen!Yeah you look like him"

"That's because I am him" he said in an obvious tone.

"So you must be the famous Maya Hart?, The overall genius in our class." She smiled at him confidently.

"The one and only" she told him. Yeah May was pretty good at math so, Maya picked up on some things. Her nose twitched for a minute, before she winced and caught the smell of smoke coming from him.

"Smoking is bad you know. You should stop putting your life on the line." She commented. He wasn't surprised at what she said. Someone's told him that before.

He chuckled. "You sound like my Ex- Boyfriend." She looked at him intrigued. She would've never guessed that he was gay.

"So, what. Did he talk on and on about how smoking was bad?"

"Actually, he's the one who got me to stop. My parent's were stressing the life out of me when I came out. My father was the most pissed. My mom was disappointed in me, but she still loved me as her son, overtime she got over it but my father treats me like a fucking asshole. He's basically ashamed to call me his son." His fist clenched.

"That's why I started smoking. Each time he yelled at me, it stressed me out. So I smoked. Then I met this guy named Shane. We became closer than ever in an instant. Up until he wanted to meet my parents. My father treated him worse than he treated me!" Owen wasn't sentimental. But the thought of Shane made him tear up a little.

"We had a good relationship. It lasted for a good two years and a half. We hid the fact that we were together so no one noticed. But my dad caught us one day and just ruined our relationship. His parents were more welcoming than ever but mine?, They were just... They make me feel like I never should've come out as gay. Like I wasn't supposed to be gay, Like I'm a nothing." He sighed. He was getting angry and teary just thinking of the whole mess.

"Sorry, Maya. I didn't mean to overwhelm you with my life problems" Maya shook her head at him to show that he was wrong. She pulled him in for a hug, ignoring the pain on her side.

"Don't you ever feel like you're a nothing. You're very special Owen. You can decide your sexuality, not them. If your father can't accept that. Then fuck him." She paused. "Well don't actually fuck him. That would... that would be terribly wrong." They both laughed. "All I'm saying Is how you feel and how you want to live your life gay or not shouldn't matter to anyone." She told him before letting go.

"Thank you, Maya. Not a lot of people could care bout lil ol' me." He smiled her.

"Yeah dont mention it cause I'm not one to have serious talks." She chuckled.

Owen felt as though he can find a new best friend in in this mysterious girl. Definitely someone he could trust and vent about his life. Maya was accepting and she made him feel better about himself and they only talked for like four minutes. She went back to holding her side.

"Alright, I'm sure you're not ok because you haven't let go of your side since I got here." He said in concerned.

She sighed, "Yeah well if you want to talk about bad parents. My father left me when I was young. My mother barely ever was home because she worked late hours at the nighthawk diner." Maya said plainly.

"Well I'm sorry to hear that, but that doesn't explain what's wrong with your side." She took a deep breath before telling him.

"I know we both just met but, I haven't really had much people to talk about this with, which is partially my fault but-" she paused. Guess I'm really going to tell a stranger my business, she sighed again.

"Maya it's totally okay for you to not tell me. Especially if it's something personal, I don't want to invade." Owen reassured her that it wasn't his place to be nosy. She nodded in disagreement.

"This may sound corny but something about you just tells me to trust you." Maya said quietly.

"Uh uh thats a bad idea Sweetheart." Owen joked and Maya smiled.

"I never thought that I would be a victim too but I-"

"Sorry I can't remember what she told me"" Owen said sadly with a shrug. Farkle was about to strangle him.

"Are you kidding me you guys. I'm Maya's friend! Why can't you just tell me!"

"Nuh uh, not after that stunt you pulled back in New Years" Zay shook his head frantically.

"Zay that was years ago! To quote your own words that was middle school! We're in high school. I was stupid and didn't even think about Maya's feelings." He said desperately.

"Yeah so if you didn't think about how Maya felt, how do you expect us to know how you feel about her now?" Owen tilted his head to side looking at him.

"Can you guys please just tru-"

Lucas suddenly appears. punching the locker they were at. They all jump, startled at the noise.

"Lucas? you ok buddy?" Zay asked trying to put his hand on Lucas' shoulder.

Lucas' expression darkened. He looked at the three with hooded eyes.

"Zay...I'm going to Texas"