Maia didn't like the holidays. To her, they were just another reminder of how amazing her stupid older brother was in the eyes of her parents. It had taken Maia many years of internal strength, to quill at least some of her insecurities created by her parents very clear and cruel bais. If she'd had a choice, Maia would have stayed at school for the holidays, but her parents wouldn't hear of it. They were paying for her school, so she had to come when they called. It confused Maia to no end why her parents wanted her home. All they did was look at Daniel, so why did it matter if she was in the room? At home she was invisible, like a ghost. This meant her Christmas had been long, stressful, and exhausting. She returned to school as early as her parents would let her, saying she wanted to get a jump start on her school work. For a moment, she thought her parents were actually glad to see her trying so hard at school, but then they turned it all back around to Daniel. How her parents could make her leaving early about her older brother she had no idea, but they'd managed it.
Maia often wondered why they'd had a second child. If her older brother was so freakin perfect, why try for another. She'd never asked them though; she quite believed she was scared to hear the answer. But she had come up with many theories over the years; ranging from failed birth control, to them wanting another boy.
Maia couldn't wait till graduation. The moment she was no longer financially tied to these people, she was never going to see them ever again. She'd find a job good enough so she could pay her own way. Independence was the light at the end of the long tunnel that was her life so far. This might be why she always thought of the past as something to escape, and the future as being bright and full of potential. This attitude was also probably one of the reasons why she didn't like that her ex was wondering the halls of her school. Why did Jordan have to be here of all places? Her school was her sanctuary, and he was crashing it.
Her first day back at school was like a breath of fresh air. To be free of her parents once again was glorious. It wasn't true independence, but at least she had four Daniel free months to look forward to before summer. Last year she had endured the entire summer back home with her parents, and she was determined not to do that again. If possible, she'd take summer classes or get a summer job so she'd have at least some time away from them. But that was a problem for later.
Maia arrived home to an empty dorm room, but it made her smile. No Daniel, no parents. Just all this space to herself. It was paradise. She was sure Izzy wouldn't be home till she absolutely had to be, and Maia couldn't blame her. From what Maia had heard about Izzy's family home, it was more like a five star hotel than an actual house. Why wouldn't Izzy want to stay as long as possible?
Dumping her bag on the floor, Maia laid down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She couldn't help but wonder if Simon was back home yet. She knew he'd had a fairly low-key Christmas with just his sister and mother, and therefore might be back already. Though Simon actually liked his family, so maybe he would stay a while longer with his than she had. Either way, Maia wouldn't know until she asked. Pulling her phone from her pocket, Maia sent him a simple text. Despite the relief of her solitude, she found she wanted some decent company after all.
As she waited for a reply, Maia continued to stare at the ceiling, trying to form patterns from the paint lines, and badly painted over damage from students over the years. If she drew a line right down the center of one shape, it almost looked like a fork. She wasn't sure why she was doing this; her thoughts were around and around, nowhere good.
Why was Jordan at this school? WHY? She'd purposely picked a different school than Daniel to avoid him, but she'd also picked one far enough away so she wouldn't have to see Jordan again. She so wanted to believe that it was a coincidence, that he'd just happened to be here too. But Maia knew she wasn't that lucky. Her unhelpful mind pulled memories to the front that she had never intended to think of again.
They were by a lake. Maia sat on the grass looking out over the water. Jordan stood above her, facing away. Then slowly he turned to look at her, and it was like the world stopped turning. The way he looked at her made her feel seen, like she was the center of the universe. This was one of her favourite memories of Jordan; their relationship had fallen apart only days later.
They were in class, grade ten if Maia wasn't much mistaken. Jordan sat to her left, and the teacher was going on and on about something neither of them were playing attention to. When the teacher turned her back, Maia had felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and turned. It had been the first time Jordan had approached her. Though he'd said nothing, she could remember the texture of the rough paper he'd placed in her hand. Maia had opened it, and read the words 'you're cute' in messy boyish writing. The paper looked so worn that she'd been sure he'd been carrying it around with him for days, trying to find a moment to give it to her.
Then as she knew it would, Maia's mind showed her the fight. She couldn't remember now what had started it, but she could remember the feeling of it. They'd been so young, only weeks from finishing high school. Maia could recall the exact moment when her heart had broken, and she'd vowed to never let him near her again. He was her past, and she was determined not to go backwards. That had been two years of her life she wouldn't get back, and that was all it was to her now.
Maia sat up, trying to pull her thoughts back to the here and now. Checking her phone, she was relieved to see that Simon had replied.
'Sure,' he texted. 'Your place or mine.'
'Don't phrase it like that,' Maia replied, smiling at how Simon had chosen to word his response. 'It makes this sound like a sleazy hook up.'
'Yes, come forth into my love cave, for lack of chemistry is my main turn on,' Simon texted, and Maia laughed out loud. She had missed her friend. He was so much easier to spend time with than her crazy family.
'Get your ass over here, dork,' Maia texted back grinning.
Simon simply replied with, 'Yes ma'am.'
Less than twenty minutes later, Maia was laughing and eating popcorn with Simon sitting beside her, and feeling much better. They were watching a slightly ridiculous, yet a very entertaining old scifi movie they'd found hidden in the depths of Netflix.
"You know what," Simon said as the movie ended. "Give me another month and I bet I could get Jordan to watch this, even if Star Trek was beyond him."
"Jordan?" Maia asked confused. Had she ever told Simon the name of her ex?
"Yeah, my roommate," Simon explained. "I've told you about him before, right?"
"Not by name," Maia said. "That's so weird."
"Why?" Simon asked.
"My ex is named Jordan," Maia explained. "I told you that on our failure of a date, remember?"
"Right," Simon said slowly. "Yeah, I didn't make that connection. Quite honestly, I think I forgot." But then his eyes went very wide. "I don't supposed your ex was a really tidy guy?"
"Not at all," Maia replied.
"Was he super laid back, and gave you lots of space?" Simon tried next.
"Nope," Maia said. "Clingy as all hell."
"Well shit," Simon exclaimed, and Maia knew what that look meant. Oh yeah, this was just great. Not only was her ex at the school and following her around, he was also living with her friend. On top of all this, they'd somehow managed to be totally clueless of the fact for four months.
"I kinda added Jordan to my band," Simon said sheepishly after a few moments of silence. "He's a great singer. That is when he isn't making everyone miserable by singing the saddest song he can find."
Maia groaned, covering her face with her hands. "That's him alright," she mumbled through her fingers.
"Sorry," Simon said. "I had no idea. He never mentioned you by name." He paused then added, "We are kinda friends."
"Just perfect," Maia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Fan-freaking-tastic."
"Is this going to mean you don't want to be friends?" Simon asked. The sadness in his voice made her sigh. She knew Simon hadn't done this on purpose, since he didn't have a cruel bone in his body, but still this sucked.
"No," Maia said. "It's fine. We went four months without knowing, surely we can go the rest of the school year without meeting."
"I doubt it," Simon added. "I think he's been building up the courage to talk to you."
"What's there to talk about?" Maia whined. "We're broken up. The end. Kaput."
"He still loves you, Maia," Simon spoke softly. "I know he does. In fact, that was part of why we hit it off right away. Me and my pointless feelings for Clary, and him and his ex. We kinda related." Maia didn't know what to say to this, and a moment later, Simon added, "I have to ask, though I promise I won't tell him what you say if you don't want me to, but do you still love him, Maia?"
"I don't know," Maia said quickly, gesturing wilding with her arms. She hadn't been prepared for this. "It's the past. I try not to think about the past."
"But if you do think about it," Simon pressed. "What would you think."
"I don't know, okay," Maia exclaimed, standing up and facing him. She so didn't need this right now.
"Okay," Simon said gently. "Topic changed. Promise."
"Good," Maia added sitting back down. "I know you didn't choose to live with him, just like I didn't chose to live with Izzy. There is just four months left till we get out of the dorms. And believe me, I am getting out of the dorms this time for sure. It will be fine."
"Did you just say Izzy?" Simon asked.
"Yeah, that's my roommate," Maia replied. "Remember I texted you about how she keeps taking me shopping for clothes and out to bars." And then Simon started laughing, a deep highly amused laugh that Maia didn't understand at all.
"What's so funny?"
"I am living with your ex," Simon managed to say through his laughter. "And you are living with my elevator girl."
"Your what now?"
"After our date," Simon said when he could finally speak. "I got trapped in an elevator, and made out with a total stranger. Then she reappeared when I got back to the school, and basically booty called me."
"Simon are you trying to say you had sex with my roommate?" Maia asked.
"Yep," Simon replied still laughing.
"Izzy will have sex with anything that moves," Maia spoke curtly. "Don't pretend like this is as big of a deal as you being besties with Jordan!"
"Makes us a little even though," Simon said still snickering. "Don't ya think?"
"Maybe," Maia said, now more worried for her friend than annoyed at him. "Izzy doesn't care much about the guys she fools around with. You don't seem the type to do that sort of thing. And well-"
"You think I'll get hurt," Simon said, clearly understanding what she meant, despite her inability to say it.
"Yeah," Maia agreed.
"But I've been hurt, Maia" Simon explained. "And I think I needed someone like her to- I don't know, pull me away from Clary. Every day it gets a little better, but it's hard, and Izzy was- for lack of a better word- was a gentleman."
"Good," Maia said firmly. "At least she wasn't mean about it."
"Don't worry," Simon said smiling at her. "I will be careful. Besides Izzy's only condition was no falling for her." He laughed, and Maia had a feeling this was going to get worse before it got better. Then again, she had the same feeling about herself and Jordan, so who was she to talk. Maybe Simon was right and he'd needed to blow off a little steam. Goodness knows Maia had been there on more than one occasion.
"If she ever hurts you though," Maia said. "Tell me. I know where she sleeps." Maia grinned, trying to do her best evil smirk.
"What are you gonna do?" Simon laughed. "Give her a mustache with a sharpie?"
"Or cover her hair in honey," Maia suggested.
"Oh that would be hilarious," Simon laughed. "I can only imagine the look on her face."
"It's going to be a very strange semester isn't it," Maia whined. "I miss last semester already."
What do you think of the new point of view?
And yes this is a permanent addition to the pov rotation just like Simon and Izzy were. I was surprised that not a single review guessed Maia. It seems I wasn't as obvious as I thought. I had added 'Jaia' to the summery which I thought gave it away.
Side note: I got a job... so ... like yeah that happened. I start Monday. I should still be able to update fairly normally though maybe not as insane fast as before. (There is nothing like unemployment to keep one writing all day every day. lol.) Maybe more like normal fast or twice a week or so rather than 3-4 times a week. We shall see. You never know maybe I will write just as fast with the job as without? I went on a crazy writing binge yesterday because I was house sitting for someone and had no interruptions all day. This means the next chapter is finished and beta-ed already though I have to fix one thing. And the chapter after that is only a few hundred words short of done.
Sneak Peek Chapter 73
Jace woke up over nine hours later feeling much better. He got dressed, sorta, had breakfast, and then went to class. Today Clary had class over his lunch break, and Alec was busy, so Jace ate alone in the cafeteria. He went to another class that was as boring as the last one had been, then finally went home again. A standard day in the life of a University student. Jace knew he needed to declare a major. He'd been trying to decide on one for a while. He liked his marketing classes most, and was leaning toward that, though he found many of the other ones interesting as well. It all depended on what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. The problem was that when Jace thought about the rest of his life, all he thought about was Clary, which didn't at all help him with career options. He'd called his mother a few times to bounce ideas off her, but was still torn about what to major in.
Jace texted his girlfriend intending to spend time with her rather than inside his own head, but to his surprise, Clary was busy. She texted back that she'd tell him all about it tomorrow over lunch. Before the school year had started, Jace and Clary had sat down and compared their schedules. They'd both had Wednesday and Friday evenings clear, as well as Thursday and Tuesday around lunch time. Jace had marked his calender by these days, and with today being Wednesday evening, he had no clue what Clary was talking about. She couldn't possibly have class, so what was going on?
