A/N: Some of you guys are too good at predicting things lol... I'm going to have to put more plot twists in this story ;P

Thank you for the reviews everyone! I really love each and every individual one! Seeing them after coming home from a busy day makes my day! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own GMW, but Lucaya is bae.

Maya slowly opened her eyes, yawning heavily. She'd been hearing the birds for a while, and she even had heard the Matthews bustling about to get out of their apartment and get to their destinations in the morning. But all through that, she had kept her eyes firmly shut. Even when Riley had finally gotten up to take a shower, Maya had still feigned sleep, preferring to lounge around in the bed all day.

She turned to face the bright lights coming from the window, her head lightly pounding with that small headache that she usually got when she cried herself to sleep.

For a second—a small second—she wondered why she had been crying, but it all suddenly came crashing down on her at once.

Her mother yelling at her, getting kicked out, walking to the Matthews in the shitty rain.

That's right. I live with Riley now.

Because her mother hated her and wanted nothing to do with her.

It was like a nightmare that had snuck out of the dreamscape and infected her life.

Maya's lips quivered, and she sat up, hugging herself tightly and trying to will herself not to cry again. She'd done enough crying for a whole lifetime the night before. But even as she said that, she couldn't fight the tears welling up in her eyes. She needed to preoccupy herself.

Forcing herself out of the bed, she shed her clothes, grabbed one of Riley's sweatshirts and a pair of leggings and headed to the bathroom. Almost on autopilot, she cleaned herself up and got dressed slowly and mechanically, trying to keep her thoughts from overtaking her once again. Maya avoided glancing in the mirror as she left the bathroom. She couldn't stand to look at herself at the moment.

Finger combing her hair as she waited for it to dry, Maya stared at the picture of the Matthews family on Riley's dresser. Never in her life had she ever felt so much despair looking at the close-knit family. She could never resent Riley—she loved her dear friend too much—but she couldn't help wondering why there was such a huge difference in their families and lives. Riley's parents were still married and very much in love and their entire family still got together on occasions to celebrate the holidays. Maya's family was almost completely destroyed now. Her father wasn't in the picture, her mother no longer spoke to her relatives, and Maya didn't know the Clutterbucket half of her family. And now she didn't even have her mother anymore.

Maya reached into her still drying school bag and pulled out the somewhat damp journal in which she penned her thoughts. She flipped to the very middle of the book and then turned to about a quarter of the way to the end. The on-going letter she had been writing her father was nestled there, untouched and unsent. She had been writing this letter to her father since she was in middle school. Every milestone, everything bad that had happened to her, everything that had to do with her life, she had written it all in this letter. It was her method of coping in bad situations, although she knew he would never receive it. She folded the notebook backwards at the most recent page and dated the continuation.

Hey dad.

Are you happy? Guess what? I got knocked up. Just like mom did. And guess what? She kicked me out of our home. I just wanted to let you know that I blame you. I blame you for this whole fucking mess! Why did you walk out on mom? Why did you walk out on me?! Because you abandoned her and caused her so much pain, she became intolerant. You ruined her good spirits and her happiness. And she kicked me out when she found out I was pregnant. None of this would have happened if you had stayed. I would have had a real family and a real home, and I wouldn't be the real fuck up I am now. Why, of all personality traits that I could have picked up from you, did I get your stupidity and the damn Clutterbucket genes to fuck up anything and everything in my life? And you know what hurts the most? I don't actually blame you. I know this is all my fault. I know that I fucked up on my own. But part of me wishes you could just accept the blame for your stupid mistakes and come back. I don't even have a family anymore. So why can't you be here for me? Why do I have to suffer without a family while you get to live happily with yours?! Can't you care about the fucking daughter you left behind?!

By the end of the paragraph, Maya's eyes were completely red and tears had dripped onto the page. She slammed the notebook shut and flung it into a corner of Riley's room, curling into a ball on Riley's bed and trying to control her sobs.

She didn't know how long she stayed that way, sobbing and drifting in and out of a fitful rest, but by the time the last of the tears had dried, the midday sun had long passed and was even starting to set. She knew Riley had come to check up on her a couple of times, softly calling her name or asking if she was awake, but Maya remained silent, tracing tiny patterns on Riley's comforter as she sniffled.

Taking a deep breath, Maya finally sat up, rubbing her eyes. She couldn't stay lying in bed forever. She had to at least eat something. The scent of food traveled through Riley's open door and into her nose and Maya's stomach grumbled painfully, clearly irritated with her for not having eaten anything for several hours. She was absolutely starving. She pried herself up and out of bed, dragging her feet to the kitchen.

Riley was frying an egg at the stove when Maya walked in. Maya frowned. It was relatively quiet in the house for it being the late afternoon. Usually Riley was whining about something or another to her father at this time, and Topanga was helping Auggie with his homework. But no one else appeared to be home.

"Where is everyone?"

"Mom's working late tonight. Dad went to go pick up some pizza. And Auggie is at Ava's working on a project." Riley said, flipping the egg over and sighing dejectedly when the yolk burst open, "Are you hungry?"

Her stomach growled in response, and Riley giggled lightly. Riley opened up the fridge and pulled out a plate with what appeared to be chocolate chip pancakes. They were lopsided and looking a little rough, but she smiled sheepishly and set them in front of Maya.

"I made you some pancakes this morning, but you weren't awake."

"They're looking a little worse for wear…" Maya drawled, though she picked one up and gratefully took a bite. She winced. It was way too sweet. "Wow. I didn't think it was possible for someone to mess up pancakes."

Riley's brows furrowed and her lips turned down into a pout, "I tried!"

"I know, sweetie. I know." Maya said, continuing to eat.

Okay… That was definitely an eggshell.

"Are they bad?"

"Yes. But I'm still eating them. You made them for me." she gestured to the stove, "Anyway, shouldn't you be keeping track of that egg?"

"Oh no!" Riley exclaimed, turning around quickly and checking on the egg.

Maya smiled in amusement. Riley was a very distracted cooker. She didn't keep her eyes on the stove long enough at times and then would panic and have a mini freak out when the food got burned or stuck to the pan. Not that she was any better herself. She'd spent a lot of her years eating takeout or going to the Matthews for breakfast and dinner, so she never actually learned how to properly cook. Not to mention her mother was rarely home and if she was, she left too early for Maya to watch her cook.

Maya snickered under her breath. They were a pair of disasters. How would they even survive on their own?

"That's the first smile I've seen on your face since yesterday night." Riley said softly as she slid the plate with the charred egg over to Maya.

"Yeah." Maya nodded, the soft smile still on her lips, "Thank you for bringing it back."

"Uh oh…"

Riley picked at her nails in that way she did when she knew she had messed up. She opened her mouth and then closed it again before grimacing. Eyes narrowed, Maya lifted her head and stared blankly at her best friend. She was biting her lip in guilt and looking at the floor. It was all highly suspicious.

"Riley…" Maya dragged out her name, "What did you do?"

"Okay I'm really, really sorry, and I don't want your smile to disappear right after it just came back again but I just had to do it!"

"Well what did you do?"

Maya's eyebrow rose expectantly, though something told her she knew exactly what it was. Her pulse began to nervously race.

"Please don't hate me but I texted Lucas that you needed to tell him something and he said he would come over after practice."

Riley said it all under one breath and very quickly, so Maya almost didn't catch what she had said. But she got enough of the key words to piece together a general idea of what the statement entailed. And she was not happy.

"Riley!" she chastised, displeased with the turn of events. "I'm not ready! You can't just do things like that without consulting me."

"I couldn't help it Maya! I heard you crying all night and the only thing I could think about was how horrible things have been for you. I wanted to make it better."

"Yeah? Well this was not the way!"

"Well you should have expected this eventually! I'm a meddler. Meddling is what I do!"

Maya groaned and slumped on the table, her appetite suddenly gone, "Riley, I was going to tell him after the game…"

"Were you? Or were you going to lose your nerve again and push it to a later date?"

Maya looked up in annoyance.

"Don't give me that look, missy." Riley scolded, "I know how you operate. You've decided to tell him so many times and each time you chickened out. So I took matters into my own hands."

"This time was different. I really was going to tell him."

"Well it's too late now." Riley shrugged, "Either way, this convo has to happen. So it's happening today. I'm not going to sit here and let you suffer through this pregnancy on your own. He needs to be involved, and he needs to be involved now. Especially since you lost support from your mother."

Maya's frown loosened, and she sighed, poking at the burned egg on the plate.

"Riley…"

Riley's phone pinged, but she kept her eyes on Maya, a somber look in her chestnut brown eyes. She slid into the seat across from Maya and gently placed her hand on top of hers.

"It'll be okay. Just do it quickly. Like ripping off a Band-Aid."

"Fuck… why is this so hard…?" Maya huffed under her breath. "Why am I being so ridiculous?"

"Because you're Maya. You wouldn't be you if you didn't secretly hold things in and worry about them until they made you crazy."

Maya let out a short breath of laughter. "You're such a goof..."

"You'll tell him?"

"Yeah. I'll tell him."

"Good." Riley said, finally checking her cellphone, "Because he just arrived outside my window."

"Riley! What the hell? Too soon!"

"Go talk to him." Riley said, her face more serious than Maya had seen in a long time, "Or I'll tell him."

Maya knew Riley meant business. Nodding silently and nervously licking her lips, she stood from the table and made the trek back to Riley's room. Her heart was hammering louder and louder in her chest with each step she took.

Sure enough, when she pushed past the bedroom door, Lucas was knocking at the closed window, his gym bag under one arm, his messenger bag under another. He smiled when he saw her, but when she didn't return it, his expression sobered in concern.

Maya pulled the window open and sat on the cushions on the sill, waiting patiently for him to crawl in.

"You and Riley weren't at school today."

"I know." She sighed, patting the seat next to her. "Sit."

"Everything okay? Riley's text made it sound like something bad happened."

Of course… She probably sent an all caps 'urgent' message…

"It's not… bad exactly…"

And she tapered off, averting her gaze, feeling apprehensive. Why the hell did Lucas have to look at her like that? Like he honestly cared for her.

"Maya, I'm listening." he set his hand on her shoulder, squeezing comfortingly. "You can trust me. Tell me what's wrong."

He was right. She could trust him. And she had been keeping this to herself for long enough. She finally looked at him. His green eyes were encouraging and affectionate in a way that spread warmth through her entire body. He smiled kindly, though his expression seemed slightly apprehensive. He was so oblivious to the storm that was about to come. She wondered just how distorted that expression would become in the next second.

Okay fuck it… Man up and tell him. Rip it off like a Band-Aid Maya…

Maya took a deep, preparatory breath.

And:

"Lucas. I'm pregnant."