A/N: Hey! :) I don't own any of these characters. Every chapter is in Maya's POV unless I say so. Here's the first chapter.. I hope you guys like it!


CHAPTER ONE


I was sitting alone in the "hole" of our high school on a Saturday needing some time to think and focus on my art. I wasn't paying much attention to what I was drawing until now. It was Lucas. The drawing was made of scribbles but it's pretty clear who it was. Suddenly I hear someone screaming "PEACHES!" down the hall. It's obviously Riley trying to look for me after I've been avoiding her all day. I really don't know why I'm avoiding her though because she's my best friend and I always want to be around her.

I quickly turn over my sketchpad so she doesn't see my drawing of her now official boyfriend. After hiding the drawing from her sight, I yell "I'm in the hole!" so she can find me. She runs down the short flight of stairs and sits next to me.

"Hey, where have you been?" she asks.

"I've been busy. Sorry I didn't come by your apartment today."

"It's okay. Busy with what?"

"I just needed some time alone to draw out my feelings."

"Ooh, can I see?"

When Riley asks this, I realize it was a bad idea to tell her what I was actually doing. All I've done today is that mess of a drawing of Lucas.

"Oh, umm, I actually haven't drawn anything yet. I just, I can't get my ideas out." I hate lying to her, but if I show her my drawing, I'd be hurting her.

"Okay, well, you can always talk to me about your feelings, your life.. anything. You know that right?"

"Yeah, Honey. I know." I say with a soft smile.

I check the time on my phone and see that it's almost seven and Shawn will want me home for dinner soon.

"I've got to go, Riles. Walk home with me?"

She got up before I could even finish the sentence. How did I get so lucky to have a friend like her?

We get to the apartment and climb up the fire escape and stop outside her bay window.

"I promise to come by tomorrow. Thanks for walking me home. Goodnight."

I climb up to my apartment, say "hello" to Shawn, who's just now making dinner, and lock myself in my room. I take out my sketchbook and I look at what I drew tonight. I should rip it out and throw it away, but for some reason I can't. An hour later, Shawn knocks on my door and tells me dinner is ready. After we eat, I decide to go to bed early.

SUNDAY

Riley called this morning and asked me if I wanted to have lunch with her family and I said "yes." I'm outside her bay window when I see Lucas sitting there with her. I knock on the window and Riley lets me in.

"Hey, Riles."

"Hey!" she replies.

"Are you just going to ignore me, Maya?" Lucas asks. I wish I could. I try to avoid him looking at me but my head went against my brain and looked up.

"Huckleberry! What are you doin' here?" I say in a terrible country accent.

"Riley here has invited me me over for lunch." He responds back also in a terrible accent. Sometimes I wonder if he really is from Texas.

Why do I have to think that? Every time I hear or think of Texas, all the memories come rushing back. The "you look good," me storming out of the refreshment tent, him riding the bull and falling off, Riley figuring out my feelings for him, Riley telling him about those feelings, the campfire. And him grabbing my face and almost kissing me before he pulled back.

"Oh," I turn to Riley, "You didn't mention that he was going to be here too."

"Sorry. I didn't know he was going to be here today. He just came over and my parents insisted that he stayed for lunch."

"If you want, I can leave." Directing his question towards both of us but mostly to me.

"No. No, it's fine." I saw with a small smile. He keeps his gaze on me, and mine on him, for a few seconds before he turned to Riley to ask if they should go see if the food is ready.

"Maya, are you coming?" asks Riley.

"I'm good in here."

They left and I know I'm going to feel horrible and guilty about this but I went out her window and missed lunch with her family. I see his face and I think about my drawing and I can't help but wonder why I'm feeling this way again. The awkwardness and the long stares. Why can't everything go back to normal? Lucas picked Riley. I became Riley and only liked Lucas because I was protecting my best friend and I wanted to see if he is a good enough guy for her, which he is. He's great for her. I'm trying to convince myself of this, but every time I think about it, it sounds more and more unreal than the last. As I was about to crawl into my room, my phone rings and I see the caller is Riley. She's probably back in her room now and is calling because I'm not there. I ignore the call and lie down on my bed. I don't know how long I was asleep but I woke up due to knocking on my window. I look over and instead of Riley, I see Lucas. What was he doing here? I walk over and open my window.

"Can I come in?"

"Uhh, yeah." I move over to let him in. "What are you doing here?"

"You were gone when we got back to the room."

"I know."

"Why did you leave?"

"Oh, umm, my mom called and wanted to talk to me in person."

He looked at me for a while. I wish he didn't do that all the time.

"Really?" He asked.

"Really."

Then he stared at me some more. I just want to slap him and tell him to snap out of it. He can't look at me like that anymore. He's with Riley now.

"Okay. So I brought over some leftovers. Riley was going to bring them but I wanted to talk to you."

"Thanks. Talk to me about what?"

"Would you have stayed if I wasn't there?"

I must've taken too long to answer and he realized that I would've stayed if it weren't for him.

"Why do you keep avoiding me?" He asks.

"I'm not," which is a total lie.

"Maya.."

"I'm not avoiding you, Lucas. You're Riley's boyfriend. I just don't think we should be hanging out all the time anymore." I say while trying not to make eye contact.

"Maya, just because Riley and I are a couple now doesn't mean that we can't hang out anymore. We're friends and friends can go out and have fun, right?"

I look up at him against my own will again and realize how close he's standing. I take a step back and sit on my bed. He must've noticed that too because he also stepped back a little.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Riley misses you."

"I know. I just need some time by myself right now."

"Okay but you've got to come out of the hole sometime, Maya."

With that, he walked to my window to leave. But before he did, he looked back and says "I miss you too."

Now he's gone.


A/N: Please leave reviews so I know what I can improve on. Also if you have a request, please leave those too. I will try to include the ones I like and somehow try to fit them in the story. Thanks for reading! :)