(MAYA'S P.O.V.)

I think I was experiencing the worst headache in the history of headaches.

I woke up to the bright sunlight beaming on me. My glasses were still on, my black shorts were basically riding up my ass, and I had covers over me.

Where the hell was I? I certainly wasn't in my bed. I wasn't in my room.

Was I...

No...

I couldn't be at the Hollingworth's house. I couldn't be at my ex boyfriends house.

Wow, this is one hell of a nightmare.

"You're finally up!" Frankie said, closing the door behind her. I was in the Hollingsworth's guest bedrooms bed.

"What am I..."

"You passed out last night." She replied. I rubbed my eyes.

Come on, Maya. The last thing you remember. It wasn't the pool, it wasn't the drunk girls that fell into the pool...

Then Zig came into my mind. I was with Zig last. In this room.

"Don't worry," Frankie said, walking over to the bed. "Miles has no idea you're here. He passed out by the pool at like, three last night. As far as I know of, he's still there."

"Oh my god," I moaned, rubbing my head. What had happened after I fell asleep?

"When did I...when did the party end? How long was I...?"

"I walked in here at like, two, when the party died down completely," she began. "And some guy with black hair wearing a black shirt was sitting in here by the bed."

It had to be Zig.

"He said he wanted to make sure nothing happened to you since...you know, you passed out." She finished.

"Wait, he stayed in here until everyone left?"

"Until everyone left," she nodded. "Once I told him everyone was gone and I had everything under control, I told him he could leave."

So Zig had stayed here, until two in the morning watching me sleep. Making sure nothing bad happened to me. Dang.

"He also said your mom called," Frankie slightly grinned. Oh god. My mom!? She was probably worried sick!

"Oh my god," I loudly sighed. "My mom!"

"I was like, half dead asleep when I saw him in here. I think he might have answered."

Shit.

"Oh god," I ripped the blankets off of me, trying to gather all my very little belongings. "I have to get home."

"I have Hunter making you something, if you want to wait." Frankie stood up, but I couldn't stay. I had to get home and try to explain my way out of this.

"No, no it's okay. My mom will probably kill me." I fixed my hair in the mirror, beginning to walk out until Frankie stopped me.

"Maya,"

I stopped and turned around.

"We're still...good, right? I mean, Miles is a dick, everyone knows that. But I hope we can stay friends."

I walked over to Frankie, giving her a hug.

"We will always be friends, Franks." She hugged me back, before letting me go off into hell, a.k.a. my home. I walked out of the guest bedroom and down the stairs I walked down many times before. Red solo cups were everywhere, as two guys I didn't know were trying to clean everything up before the parents got home. I didn't bother to say hello.

oOo

I walked into my house to find my mother sitting in the kitchen. I took a deep breath. Okay, Maya. You can do this.

"Hey...mom." I slowly said, walking in. She looked at me up and down and giggled.

"Why are you still in last night's clothes?" She asked.

"Um, they're actually pretty comfortable." I managed to make out. Wow, I was making it obvious.

"So, how was Tristan's last night? Are you guys better now?" She asked, sipping her coffee. Tristan's? What?

My mind went to what Frankie said about Zig answering my phone.

"Who was on the phone last night by the way?" She raised her eyebrow. "Were you guys hanging with Zig?"

"Yes," I quickly replied. "We were. And...Tristan and I are, okay, I guess. Pretty much back to normal." I lied. Thank god for Zig.

"Mm," She nodded.

"Did dad call?" I tried to change the subject. But honestly, I didn't want him to call. I never wanted to ever speak to him again.

"No," she blankly replied.

And then the conversation was over.

(NEXT MORNING: MONDAY MORNING MAYA'S P.O.V.)

I was walking to the office on a Monday morning. That didn't feel like a good thing. I went to my homeroom, and my teacher handed me an orange pass telling me to go to Mr. Simpson. Why did he even want to see me? What did he want?

The only other time I ever got called down to the office was for, well, Cam. And as far as I'm concerned, my boyfriend didn't die again, although I didn't have one. Ha. Would be nice if my ex boyfriend did, though.

I knocked on Mr. Simpson's door, and he stood up and greeted me, pointing to the chair in front of his desk. I took my back pack off and rested it on the floor, quickly sitting down.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Well, Maya," Mr. Simpson said, interlocking his fingers together. "It has been brought to my concern that your attitude in school has been unruly lately. You have been acting out in class, sleeping in class, and let's not forget what you wrote on Zoe Riva's locker."

Ha, how can anyone forget? Zoe Rivas is a slutty backstabbing whore.

"That is not the way you act in school, Ms. Matlin."

"But Mr. Simpson, she had..." I yelled, but he cut me off.

"I don't care what she did, or what she said, that's not something you write on someone's locker. Actually, if we are regarding not only the student handbook,"

I slumped in my chair, crossing my arms.

"But the rules of the state, vandalism is against the law."

"So what are you gonna do," I sounded awfully bitchy, but I didn't care. "Are you gonna arrest me?"

"That is not my intentions, Ms. Matlin. And I hope that will never be my intentions, especially with you." He paused, looking at me but I looked away. "Your actions will have consequences."

"Okay okay," I sat up in my seat. "Just give me my weeks detention so I can get to my bio class,"

"You won't be attending your bio class, Ms. Matlin."

What? He was suspending me?

"You will be going to the Remedial Room, where you will spend the next couple weeks in there with Mrs. Grell."

"The Rubber Room!?" I shouted. "You can't put me in there Mr. Simpson. Isn't that a place for criminals, potheads, drug dealers!?"

"I can assure you that it's a safe place. Mrs. Grell is a wonderful teacher and if you pass the class this block, you won't have to attend for last block."

"This isn't fair," I shook my head.

"Actually, I could suspend you." He replied back. "But considering the fact that you don't have a record here, and you get pretty good grades, I won't do that."

I just sat there with my arms crossed. The Rubber Room?! He was sending me to the Rubber Room? Who was even in there anyways?

"But wait," I sat up. "What about my bio class?"

"Your schedule will be changed," he replied. "But until we get that figured out you will be going to the Remedial Room this next period, and also last."

"It's last period too!?"

He nodded, standing up. I followed as he stood up, my mouth wide open.

"There's nothing else I can do?" I blankly asked him.

"Nothing else." He replied.

I sighed. Arguing with him wouldn't work, it would probably just get me a suspension. So I grabbed my book bag, slugged it over my shoulder, and walked out.

Well great. Just great! Like my life wasn't already a living hell. Not only will I have hell at home, I would have hell at school. In the Rubber Room. With all of those...delinquents.

I walked down the hall, passing Tristan on the way. All he did was look at me and walk away. To be honest, I could care less about him right now. He took Zoey the Hoey's side on what she did, because she's some fucking actress queen. He backstabbed me. He made it seem like what she did to me was alright.

After a minute of walking, and crying inside I arrived to the Rubber Room. I took a deep breath before I entered. Just get this over with.

I walked in and quickly walked to an open seat. I tried to avoid contact with anyone, but from what I saw they were all freaks. I looked up and saw a girl with blue dye in her hair talking to some kid with an orange stripe in his hair.

"Can I help you, Blondie?" The girl said. I guess she noticed me staring. I looked down, trying to ignore her. I could feel her eyes on me for a couple seconds more, but then she looked away.

I slumped in my seat, crossing my arms. I hated the fact I was in here. I hated it. I would've punched Mr. Simpson if I was able to.

"Okay, everyone settle down!" Mrs. Gel or whatever her name was shouted while walking in. Everyone took a seat, including the girl with the blue stripes in her hair who sat next to me.

"Pst," I heard beside me, and I looked over and she was pointing to my open bag, with my MacBook poking out.

"I'd zip that if I were you, Princess." I looked at her for a second, before realizing what she was talking about. I bent down and zipped it, and heard her say, "Grace, by the way."

Grace slumped back into her seat, as Mrs. Grell began talking.

"We have a new student joining us," Mrs. Grell pointed to me. Oh god. She had to make an announcement? What, was this freshman year all over again? "Her name is Maya Matlin and I expect all of you to treat her the way you treat each other...well, most of you."

Everyone was silent for a second. If I could make myself invisible, I would. Forever.

"Okay, well we are going to start off class with a new project, in which will force you guys to work outside of school on it, since I won't be giving you much time in class." everyone moaned to the words coming out of her mouth. A project? In the Remedial Room? Weren't we supposed to be talking about, like, how to not want to stab someone? That would actually be pretty a pretty useful subject to explain just about now. And outside of school? Where they can kill me, alone?

"Get into groups of about 3-4." She said.

Everyone immediately got up and got with groups, as I sat there, alone.

"Oh wow," I heard Mrs. Grell say from behind me. "Look who finally decides to show up!"

I turned around and saw a boy with a black leather jacket on, holding a black backpack and an annoyed look on his face. He looked tired.

By the way, did I mention it was ZIG NOVAK?

I guess he saw me, because his face turned into a shocked impression. He was shocked to see me. In the Rubber Room.

He took the paper that Mrs. Grell was giving him, and hardly listened as she told him to get into a group, because he was too focused on me.

He slowly walked over to me.

"Maya? What are you doing here?" He asked before taking a seat by me. I was about to open my mouth to say something, until Grace turned around and said something.

"Zig, you're working with us, aren't you?"

Zig looked at her, and then looked back at me.

"You're in the Rubber Room?" He asked me, and I nodded. I hardly noticed how fast my heart was beating.

"Novak!" Grace said, giving a weird look at him, then at me. That look like, "why are you talking to her?"

Zig got up, finally taking his eyes off of me and walking over to Grace and the other kid, I think his name was Tiny. He then looked back at me.

"Well, are you gonna work with us?" He asked, and I quickly got up with my stuff and walked over to them. Thank god.

Mrs. Grell began explaining what the project was. We had to make some kind of poster of different behaviors or something. I didn't really listen, I was too busy focusing on the fact that Zig was in here. How long had he been in here for? How did he know these people? Why was he in here? Did I have sex with him at that party? Can I possibly be pregnant with his baby?

Ha. Just kidding. I knew I didn't have sex with him. I do remember kissing him...I think.

And then she said we would have to work on this project not only in class, but out of class.

"Novak," I heard Grace whisper to Zig. "Why is Blondie working with us?"

Okay, Blondie is getting kind of old. Thanks, I know I have blonde hair.

Zig shrugged her off.

"Ugh," Tiny sighed. "We have to work on this outside of class?"

"Grell is so annoying," Zig added on. I just sat there, sitting on my hands. I couldn't stop looking at Zig.

Grace must have noticed.

"Are you two like, dating or something? Because as far as I'm concerned Novak will never have a girlfriend." Grace laughed, and Zig threw her a nasty look.

"Shut up, Grace. No, she's not my girlfriend." Zig said in a mad tone. Like he was embarrassed. Of me.

Everyone was kind of silent, except for Tiny adding onto the joke Grace made. But I didn't listen. I couldn't stop thinking about why Zig was in here.

"Where are we even going to do this project?" Tiny asked.

I needed to know why Zig was in here. I needed to know this new Zig. I wanted to know this new Zig. And if inviting them all over was the way to find all of this out, I'd do it. So I offered it.

"We can work on it at my house after school," I softly said, and they all looked at me, Grace tilting her head and giving me a "what?" look.

"What, are we gonna have a tea party also?" She snickered.

Everyone was silent, and she looked at them.

"I'm kidding, Blondie."

Well, this wasn't going to be easy.

So they ended up coming over.

The walk to my house was awkward. I was lucky enough to live close to the school, so walking distance was only five minutes. Tiny was going off about how much he hated his science teacher, as Grace had her headphones in, but could still hear Tiny, from all the side jokes she made.

Zig traveled close behind. I walked next to him, hoping he would say something to me. But he didn't. We just walked.

"So my mom isn't home," I said, putting my hands in my pockets. "She probably won't be until 6ish."

I would be home alone with a bunch of delinquents. Well, was Zig one? What did Zig even do to get in the Rubber Room? I kept asking myself the same questions in my head.

I opened the front door of my house with my key, and walked into the kitchen, where they set their bags in the kitchen. Everybody was silent for a couple seconds, until I spoke up.

"Well, my laptop is in my room, so you guys can hang out...wherever." And then I walked into my room, up the stairs. I could hear Tiny talking to Grace from my room. I quickly walked over to my bed, unplugging my laptop when I heard a laugh that scared me at first.

"Still the same," Zig chuckled. I stood up, with my laptop.

"Yeah," I chuckled back, looking around. "Pretty much."

"So," Zig started. "I just wanted to ask about that...Saturday night."

I knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I know," I quickly replied. "I'm...well, thanks for, you know, making sure I was okay."

"No problem." He replied. And that was all he said.

"Look, Zig. I'm -" I began, but I was interrupted.

"Come on you lovebirds!" Grace yelled from the stairs, making Zig chuckle a bit.

"We should probably go," Zig pointed to my door, and I nodded and walked down the stairs with him behind me. I set out all the supplies on my kitchen counter, and I was surprised to see Zig go into my fridge. Not that I was offended or angry, Zig used to do that all the time last year, I was actually shocked to see how quickly we could just - be okay together.

oOo

After about two hours of working, I was shocked to see how well us four got along. I was no longer made fun of by Grace, only as jokes. We were all laughing, talking, barely doing the project. Well - I was gluing stuff down, as they watched and threw popcorn into each others mouth. After a while, they walked around my kitchen, looking at picture frames on the wall, as Zig stayed over by me.

"Is this your sister?" Tiny asked, pointing to a picture my sister and I took a couple months ago - since my mother insisted on us getting professional pictures done.

"Mhm," I nodded my head. "She's away at college. Her name is Katie."

"Ha," Zig chuckled. "Remember that one time my guitar knocked over her nail polish,"

I already knew what he was going to say, and I laughed along. "And then you blamed it on me. Yup, I remember."

"Wait," Grace said. "You guys already know each other?"

"Mhm," I said again. "Since last year."

"Wait, really?" Tiny said. "Wait! You're the Maya Zig always -"

"Tiny!" Zig quickly said. And then Tiny shut up.

What was Tiny about to say? The Maya Zig always...talked about? Hated on?

"Is this your dad?" Grace said, pointing at a picture of my mother and my uncle.

"No," I blankly said. And Zig looked at me, because he knew my dad left us not too long ago. "That's my Uncle Rob."

"Where's your dad?" Tiny asked.

"He's an asshole." I quickly said, for a second not noticing what he asked. "He uh, my parents are divorced. And soon, I'll be "divorced" from him too!"

They were silent for a second.

"What do you mean you'll be divorced from him?" Zig asked.

"Well," I said, setting down my glue stick. "Let's just say, we aren't on good terms. At all. So my mom is in the process of getting full custody, and in about a month or so, I won't ever have to see him again, hopefully."

"Wow, Blondie." Grace sighed. Just a second ago we were laughing and having fun, and now it felt as if it was just - silent.

"It's just been stressful lately," I continued. "I just want to get away from it for a while."

Just then, Grace smiled at Tiny, and Tiny smiled back.

"No," Zig said to Grace. "No don't even say it."

"Why not?" Grace asked, smirking. "She has some shit going on."

"What?" I asked, looking at all of them.

"Grace..." Zig stared at Grace, shaking his head.

"Chill your balls, Novak." Grace said. "Hang out with us tonight, Blondie."

"But...it's a school night." I said.

"So...? Who cares, just tell your mom you'll be finishing the project at the library or something."

I wondered why Zig was saying "no" to Grace. But Grace was right. I had a lot of shit going on. I lost my boyfriend, my best friend, and my home life certainly wasn't pleasant. So what would the problem be, just hanging out with a couple friends? That's all it was.

"Okay," I finally agreed, smiling. "What are we going to do?"

"You'll see."