A/N:

Surprise…! I'm not dead… haha… haha… /chuckles weakly in attempt to avoid being killed be readers for leaving the story on a cliffhanger for more than half a year/

Anyways, I'm really sorry but I swear I've gotten much better at writing since I left this thing hanging. I will do my best to update more often, possibly every week or two.

Meanwhile, if you want to see some of my other works, check out my new Wattpad account: Rocksrain3!

Here's an extra long chapter for you guys because you deserve it if you're still here after all this time.

—

Maya dashed away from Lucas and Jenkins. What, she demanded to herself, was that? She came face to face with Riley and Missy.

"You really do have it out for me, don't you?" Riley asked.

"What? No, I-"

"How could you, Maya?"

"Riles, I-" She wrenched herself away from Maya as if she had hurt her.

"Don't call me that! Just… don't. I won't be fooled by you again." She walked away, leaving Missy and her sickening smile with Maya.

"You're nothing but trouble and hurt for Riley. For once in your life, try doing something right." She said in a low tone and flounced off. No, she thought desperately. Maya closed her trembling palms and head for the doors, not wanting to stay a minute longer. Her feet involuntarily took her to the bench outside Matthews' classroom. Sitting down with an unladylike thump, she put her head in her hands and pressed her palms into her eyes. Why couldn't she do anything right? Why? And now she was going to lose Riley because of it. Suddenly she was back at her house again, watching her father scream at her mother and her mother pleading; watching her father walk out of the door for the last time, saying he would be back in an hour; watching from the doorway as her father threw things into a luggage and position it by the window, ready to be dragged out from the other side; watching as he smiled like he really believed he would be back.

And it was too much. Too much for Maya to bear. She couldn't lose someone so close to her, not again. Riley; who had stuck with her almost as long as her own father; of whom she had been fiercely protective of; who loved her and wanted her. Maya could see it. Clear as day. Riley packing up like her father had; never coming back. Riley seeing her in school and turning her back on her, sneering at things she had told her in confidence, things she told Riley out of trust. Riley remembering the things they promised to do together and laughing in scorn. Riley, whom she'd trusted. She thinks she'll never trust again.

A towering shadow cut her from the strings of her panic and she fell; as if she were a puppet tied up and strangled in visions and the strings were cut, bringing her back to reality, to life. To the school. She took a shaky, measured breath.

"There you are." Sam leered, mouth stretched in what was supposed to be a smile.

Lucas was thoroughly panicked. Where the hell was she?! He'd looked everywhere in the gym, the corridors, the art room, even the girls' bathroom, and was seriously worried. He went to the first person he thought should know.

"Shawn," Lucas called urgently as he approached.

"Oh, hey Lucas." He registered the panic on his face. "Everything okay?"

"Maya's gone."

"What?!" Shawn went wide-eyed and disbelieving.

"I checked everywhere. I don't know where she is. She isn't picking up my calls either." Though I think I know the reason for that, Lucas thought guiltily.

"She couldn't have. The teachers are all outside the building. They would have seen her and Cory would have told me." Shawn said. "You might've missed her. Let's search again."

"Alright. We'll meet back outside the gym." Lucas agreed. As they left, each hurried stride matching the other's, they were stopped by Jackie and Jonas.

"What's wrong?" Jonas asked immediately. Shawn continued ahead without Lucas.

"Maya's missing."

"What?" Said Jackie. "What do you mean, 'she's missing'?!" This was said too loudly and got the attention of Jenkins, who was dancing nearby.

"Who's missing?"

"Maya." Lucas replied, getting impatient. "I need to go."

"We're coming to help." Said Jenkins and Jackie together.

"I'll get Billy." Lucas felt a swell of gratitude.

"Meet back outside the gym." He called over his shoulder. He saw Jackie and Jonas grab Billy by the shoulder, interrupting his dance with a girl, and Jenkins on his heels. They split up at a corridor, taking different turns. "Maya!" He called out, loud enough that it rattled off the walls. He faintly heard Jenkins doing the same in the other corridor. "Maya!" He tried again.

Everything was a blur as she wrestled with Sam. He had a disturbingly soothing tone as he coaxed her. "Get away from me!" Maya yelled, trying to twist her wrist out of his iron grip. She lowered her head and clamped her teeth down as hard as she could, sinking both rows into his arm as he yelled in rage. Maya brought her foot down as hard as she could, fuelled by adrenaline, and sent the point of her heel into his foot. He let her go, and she took this chance to run towards the gym. Just before it, her hair was yanked cruelly back, and her head whipped back so fast for a minute she thought she had whiplash.

She screamed, a very un-Maya-like thing to do, but something about the ferocity in Sam's eyes and the tryingness of the night had driven her over the edge, and she was sick with the panic and pace of the night. Had she been of steadier mind, she probably could have made it to the gym in time. But something about Riley finally leaving her and the stress of it all had prompted her to stop fighting, to stop trying to drive herself out of the hole she was falling into. She had lost all will to fight, and it was all too much for her. She choked out, "Just leave me alone." Even she wasn't sure she meant Sam. She was just sick of it all, this universe of broken things and constant leaving. Why couldn't it be fair? she thought. Whatever I did, I'm sorry... Just please… "Just stop." She whispered into the night, past Sam, past caring and fighting, calling for the stars above to give her rest.

—

A/N:

Damnnn… it's good to be back. Really, I'm sorry I left this hanging so long but I hope it was worth it for the few of ya'll that stayed. To the ones that stayed, thanks for sticking with this story, and to new readers, welcome to a story with so many irregular updates it'll make you want to tear your hair out :) I appreciate all your comments and readings, and a special shoutout to the readers who followed and favourite-d(?) this story. Since you guys waited so long I think you deserve a little something, so I will be answering any questions posted by you guys. Just comment your question and I will answer it in the A/N of the next chapter. The following is for the comments:

Citylightslucaya: Ohmygosh I really liked your story Keep Me Safe! It's insane that you're reading this. (assuming you're still here haha...) Nooo... they can't kiss yet (cackles evilly). We must have a big buildup to the special moment! And right now I don't think it's right for this chapter. I'm trying to break out of the cliche "guy kisses girl he likes at school dance" scene and give you guys something really special. Really happy that you like the story!

Crimson and Chrome 42: Yes, I'm sorry about that. My laptop used to have this thing where it made the words blur together and I couldn't separate some of the parts of the story but it's all good now. I'll try to make it clear from now on. Thank you for dropping a comment and I'm glad you're enjoying this so far! (P. S. Hope you're still here...)

And one last one. A special shoutout to Guest. Because this deserves all our attention. In fact, I'm going to go right ahead and copy and paste the exact comment right here so everyone can see it and appreciate the full length of this.

On this very day, Guest posted this comment:

More Rucas, please. Nobody with a brain wants to see Maya and Lucas together. And for those of you idiots that still think Maya stepped back twice for Lucas, you are seriously too stupid for words. Let me say it louder for those in the back: Maya never stepped back, not even once! The writers confirmed it. And there wasn't even anything to step back from because Lucas never wanted Maya. Watch the freaking show! Riley and Lucas were the only ones that ever stepped back from their relationship because bratty, spoiled, entitled Maya had to try to get in between Riley and Lucas as she was so jealous that she didn't have all of Maya's attention anymore and she has to steal everything from Maya. I swear, you Lucaya jerks have the mental comprehension of an infant. So, so stupid. So incredibly stupid! You just can't fix stupid, can you? And Riley holding Maya back? When? Maya always held Riley back with that ridiculous Riley committe. Which was so unnecessary since Riley is twenty times smarter than Maya. You idiots never actually watched the show, did you? Or you were just too racist and all you saw was an average-looking bottle blonde and thought: ohhh, she's pretty and blonde, so we must worship her! Racists, every single one of you.

Great, isn't it? I just had to give this the publicity this deserves. So, to my darling Guest, I represent the entire faction of readers of this story when I say...

SCREW. YOU. Believe me when I say I was going for a much stronger word but I wanted to keep this clean for our younger and untarnished readers. But I think your comment might have ruined that innocence. But for now I am happy to settle with SCREW YOU ASSHOLE. I have said so before and I will say it again: Don't read if you don't support Lucaya. Are you too bored or something? Don't you have better things to do that write long ass rants about Lucaya and this story? I am personally attacked by this comment. This is MY story, mate, and if you don't like it then leave the world in peace. You are not only attacking me, which is already unfair, but also the readers of this story, which is just ridiculously uncalled for. You have verbally abused us with words like "idiot", "stupid", "jerks", "mental capacity of an infant", and the one I love the most: "RACIST". First, the correct term is STEREOTYPE genius. Second, this is hillarious because you are such a hypocrite. You call us wrong names, serious accusations like "racists" that are simply not true, and you proceed to call us other things that insinuate we are incompetent and question our intelligence, therefore proving you are the "jerk" you accuse us of being. You also use the word "stupid" about five times in three sentences. For that particular problem, I recomend a thesaurus. You have insulted MY CHARACTERS, you have insulted ME, you have insulted the freaking READERS, and you have even insulted the ACTORS of your claimed beloved show. And for the record, if you deny the last one, I quote "all you saw was an average-looking bottle blonde". So sweetie, I suggest you get three things: a dictionary (so you can accurately insult someone next time), a thesaurus (to make your insults remotely interesting), and a hobby. You know, to do something productive with your life. All of which can be found at your friendly neighbourhood mall. Have a good life, JERK.

To all fellow writers: please stay strong in the face of haters. I know what it is like to receive your first hate comment and criticism that is just downright stupid. Stay strong and stay true to your writing. Never change your writing for someone else. Your writing is uniquely you, and if you change that, you change you. It's just not worth it. Plant your feet in like a tree and don't move no matter how hard the person pushes. Look the person in the eye and say "No. You move." Stay true to yourself.

Keep reading, keep rocking.

Lots of love,

Rocksrain xx