Chapter 12: Power of Love
Maya's POV:
"Mom, I'm heading off to the mall. I'll meet you at the diner afterwards." I said as I walked out of the house and got into Riley's car. "Well hello, my darling." Riley said as I put on my seatbelt. "Hello, sweetheart." I said. We drove off to the mall and I was a little nervous. I got the scholarship to a really fancy art school in Italy and I was meeting with them today to discuss more about my scholarship. They wanted to meet in person to talk about this so they flew in from Italy and I was going to meet with them at 4pm today. "Maya, are you nervous?" Riley asked. "You have no idea. I mean their coming to me. They don't usually do that for just anybody. Just why me?" I said. "You're special Maya and you are such an incredible artist. They would be dumb enough to not come to you. I can't wait to see all the beautiful creations you make." She said. "What if they want to go over my paintings, what if they want something new? Oh gosh, I'm turning into you." I said. "Hey, you're going to be fine and if they do, just let your heart lead the way, let your mind flow and just paint. You always make something beautiful." she said. "Riley, you always know what to say. I'm just so nervous and excited at the same time. Whoa- when did we get to the mall?" I asked as soon as I realized we were in the parking lot. "Like two minutes ago. You've been focused on other things." Riley teased as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. I followed along with her.
"Can you blame a girl?" I said. We walked into the mall, and inhaled the smell of food coming from the food court. "The thing I'm worried about is, what if they change their mind about me?" I asked. "They're not going to change their minds, if they didn't think you were a truly gifted artist, then they wouldn't have given you this scholarship. They believe in you, the same way I believe in you. You're going to be fine." Riley said. She always manages to make me feel better. "Let's go get food." I said. Maybe some food would help me get my mind off of it. "I don't even know what I want to wear, but I know I have to look my best." I said as I dug into a plate of pasta. "Ooh, what about that navy blue dress you got from forever 21, the other day." Riley suggested. "Oh my god, I completely forgot I bought that. That is perfect." I said. "So new subject, what're you going to do about prom? Are you and Lucas going?" I asked. "I want to, and Lucas would probably have to get me a guest pass. But yeah, I think we are. He would have to ask the question first." She said. "I'm probably going to end up going with Farkle. But I wouldn't mind it. Surprisingly." I said as I took a sip of water.
We were finishing our food, when all of a sudden Missy Bradford and her little clique came up to us. "Aww, look girls, it's the loserville." She said. "What do you want, Missy?" I asked. "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to wish you luck on your little meeting with Italy today, you're going to need it anyways, considering the fact that the only reason why you got it is because you're nothing but a charity case." She said. "Awww." I said with sympathy. "Do you feel better about yourself now? Because I know you needed to cheer up, especially since you didn't even get into any of the schools that you wanted. So if I were you, I would just walk away before it gets more embarrassing." I said with a smile. "Girls!" Missy said as she snapped her fingers and stomped away. "Will she ever give up?" Riley asked. "I doubt it." I said.
After we ate, we decided to go to Forever 21. But then when we passed by Tiffany Co, I saw Lucas in there, he was looking at jewelry. I had to figure out what he was doing. "Hey, Riles. I'll meet you at Forever 21, I have to take care of something real fast." I said. "What? Um, okay. I'll see you in a bit then." She said as she walked on. I made sure she walked right into the store before I made my move. I walked into the store and slowly made up my way to Lucas. "What're you doing?" I asked with a smile on my face. He jumped. "O-oh M-Maya, how long have you been there?" he asked. "Just got here. Are you looking at engagement rings?" I said in shock. "What? No. I'm looking for an um a belly ring." He said with hesitation. "A belly ring?" I asked. "Yeah." he said. "Just tell me." I said. He sighed. "Fine, yeah I'm looking at engagement rings, but I'm not planning on proposing anytime soon. We just got back together a month ago, I was also thinking about getting her a charm bracelet. It's my way of asking her to prom. I was going to have them engrave prom on the inside of the case." He said. "You know, she's going to be more focused on the necklace than the word itself." I said. "It's one of my ideas, but I'm not so sure I'm going to go through with it. I'm still going to get her a necklace though, to go along with a ring. I want to get it now. This ring is the one she's being eyeing for a while now. Before we started dating, like way before. This ring was the one she wanted the love of her life to propose to her with. Every time we came to the mall, she would always drool over it. This ring is special and also, the guy said it's the last one. So I need to get it today." He said. I smiled. "Aww, looks like Winnie found his piglet. I'm actually here with Riley, but don't worry I won't say a word. She's waiting for me at Forever 21. I'll see you later dude." I said as I walked out of the store.
I walked into the store and called Riley to find her. "Maya!" Riley yelled. I looked over to my left and Riley was walking towards me. "Where did you go?" she asked. "Oh, just saw someone I knew. I had to talk to them about something." I said. "Oh okay, well are you okay?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." I said as I started to look at clothes. I glanced at her and made a little grin. She had no idea what was coming her way. After we finished shopping, it was time for me to go home and face the Italians.
As I walked up the steps of my home, I could feel the atmosphere already. It was anticipation. I slowly walked into the house and my mom just got done putting out snacks and refreshments for them. I decided to go get ready, so I slipped on my navy blue dress and wore black wedges and straightened my hair. I walked back into the waiting room and waited for them to come. Twenty minutes later, they had finally arrived. "Okay, so Maya. Are you excited to be spending the next four years of your life in Italy?" one of the recruiters asked. "Yes, I believe I am." I said as I adjusted my dress. "Okay, so we just wanted to go over the basics with you. You will be on a scholarship, you'll live on campus and if you are in need of work, we can put you apart of the work program. So now for the real hard work, you already submitted three paintings, but that was to get into the school, now we need you to paint one more painting that tells us who you really are as a person, as an artist." They said. I froze. I couldn't just paint on the spot. But then I remembered what Riley had told me and I knew I could do it. "When's my due time?" I asked. "You have until noon tomorrow, but there's also a gala on Friday at 8. We know this is short notice but we would love it, if you could give a speech along with the painting." They said. "I would have to think about it, but it sounds great." I said. After the meeting, I went over to Riley's house, I needed my best friend.
"How you doing?" I said as I knocked on Riley's window. "Maya! Hey, what happened to your meeting?" she asked as I climbed through. "I just finished like ten minutes ago. They want me to submit a painting about who I truly am as a person, as an artist. I don't think I can do that Riley." I said as I put my head on her shoulder. "Hey, yes you can. You're Maya! You can do anything you set your mind to." She said as she stroked my hair, "I don't know. I mean I knew that this was probably going to happen. But I need to unwind first. Can we go to the bakery and get milkshakes?" I asked. "Of course," Riley said as she got up. I left my car at Riley's and we decided to walk to the bakery.
"This milkshake has to be the best milkshake I have ever had." Riley said as she took another sip. "Well, of course. It's chocolate, you do love your chocolate." I said. "Ladies," I heard Farkle say as he entered the bakery and made his way over to us. "What do you want?" I asked. "Nothing, I came here to get some sweet pastries, is that a crime?" he asked. "When it's you, yes it is." I said sarcastically. Then two minutes later, Lucas came and joined us. "Alright, Farkle here is your Danish." He said as he sat down next to Riley. "Why, thank you." Farkle said as he dug in. "Why are you two sitting with us?" I asked. "Oh- did we interrupt something?" Lucas asked. "No, but you could've." I said. Lucas shrugged. "So how did your meeting go?" Farkle asked. "It went fine, but I have to submit another painting by noon tomorrow. But for now, I would like to unwind. So let's not bring it up again." I said.
"No problem, hey I have something for you." Farkle said as he handed me a Chinese food box. "I'm not really craving for Chinese." I said. "Just open it." Farkle said. I shrugged and opened the box. Inside the box, there was a big fortune cookie, I cracked it open and on the inside it said. "You can have the time of your life, on a magical night, if you go to prom with me. –F" Prom? I thought to myself. Well it was coming up, but I didn't think he would ask me this fast. "Prom?" I asked. "Yes, will you go with me?" Farkle asked. I looked at Riley and she was beaming. Then I looked over at Lucas and he mouthed "say yes." I looked back at Farkle who looked so pale. "Yes, I will go to prom with you but this is just friendship." I said. Farkle fainted. "Everyday." I said. "Aww, that was very sweet." Riley said as she got up and went to go get a refill. "When are you going to ask Riley?" I asked Lucas. "I don't know." He said. "Well, if you keep waiting she is going to think that you're not going to ask her at all." I said. "You of all people, know how special she is, I don't know how to make a prom proposal for someone as special as her." he said.
Riley's POV:
After we all ate, Maya and Farkle left to go over prom details while Lucas and I went back to my house. "Are you okay?" I asked Lucas. "You've been acting a little strange today." I said as I sat on my bed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry. I just have a lot on my mind." He said as he sat down next to me. "Like what?" I asked. "I don't really want to talk about it." he said. I thought that was strange because Lucas always wanted to talk to about things. "Are you sure?" I asked. He nodded. Then he put his arm around me and started to kiss me. The kiss deepened and we fell back onto my bed. "Okay, I'm sorry as much as I love kissing you, I can't shake the fact that there's something wrong." I said as I pushed him off of me. "Riley, trust me. I'm okay." He said as he got back on top. "I don't believe you." I said as I pushed him off again. We both laid on our sides and faced each other. "It's nothing bad. It's a good thing but as hard as it is, I can't tell you because it's a surprise." He said. I gave him an evil look. "You're so cute." He said as he pulled me into another kiss.
Maya's POV:
After going over some prom details with Farkle, I went home to start on my painting. I walked into my room and pulled out all of my art supplies. I took a deep breath and let my heart guide the way through the canvas. After days of working on my art work, it was finally complete and ready for the art gala tonight. Everyone was going there to support me and I really appreciated that. "Hey, kiddo." Shawn said as he walked into my room. "Hey, Shawn." I said. "Hey, we went over this. You can call me dad." He said. "You nervous?" he asked. "What if I mess up on my speech?" I said. "You won't. This is your moment and you are going to kill it!" he said. Once we got to the gallery, I saw Riley and Lucas walking around looking at the other pieces and Farkle and Smackle were getting food from the buffet table. "Hey Riles!" I said as I walked over to her. "Hey, you look amazing. Are you ready for your speech?" she asked. "A little. But I'm just afraid I'm going to embarrass myself." I said. "You are going to be fine and if you do, we will be here for you." she said as she gave me another hug. "Yeah, you're going to be great Maya, you're an amazing artist." Lucas said. An hour had passed and it was time for me to give my speech.
I walked up to the podium and began. "Hello, I am Maya Hart, I will be attending le'art in Italy. I feel so honored to be here, considering I haven't even began my first year of college yet. I'm still finishing my senior year and I can't wait to spend the next four years of my life in Italy. So my painting is called The Girl Who Found Hope, I decided to showcase what was on the inside. The girl on the inside is filled with broken hopes and dreams, the girl who mourned for a father figure, the girl who knows what it's like to not have a meal every single day, the girl who knows what it was like to live from pay check to pay check, the girl who knows what it was like to be poor. But on the outside, the girl seemed like a perfect human being, the way she carried herself, the way she dressed, the way she remained positive throughout everything she had been through. I wanted to show that even though, I have been ripped apart so many times, I have managed to glue myself back together and I am a much better person because of it. Before, I was invisible to everyone around me, or at least that's what I thought. Then my best friend; Riley Matthews came into my life. She made a positive impact on my life, along with so many others. This painting is who I am, who I've become. Before I never hoped for anything, because i thought it was useless. I didn't believe in hope, or faith. But I now I do, because life is much more better if you have a little hope." I said.
Once I finished my speech, everyone started applauding for me. Once I got down from the podium, Riley ran over and hugged me. "You were amazing! I'm so proud of you!" she said. "Good job, Maya." Lucas said. We all continued to look at paintings until the event was over. Then we decided to head down to the beach afterwards.
Lucas's POV:
"Nothing like a night at the beach," I said as I put my arm around Riley. "You know… if it was just the two of us… we could do something a lot more fun." She teased. "Like what?" I asked. "Skinny dipping." She whispered. "Maya, Farkle you guys can leave now." I said. They didn't hear me. "Aww, we have next time babe." Riley said as she gave me a kiss and dragged me down to the water. "You know, I can't wait to come back here and see how much things changed. Coming back here, being married to you." I said. I suddenly realize what I had just said. I hope she wouldn't ask me what I meant by that. But then I remembered I told her I was going to marry her someday. "Well, I guess we will just have to wait and see where life takes us," Riley said. We walked by the water hand in hand, all of a sudden Maya and Farkle ran past us. "I'm going to get you, you little devil!" Maya yelled. "I am most definitely going to miss those two." I said. I wanted to propose to her right then and there, but were too young right now and I haven't even asked her to prom yet. So I had to hold myself back. We caught up to Maya and Farkle who were now sitting by the bonfire. "Hey guys." I said as I sat down and put Riley on my lap. "You seriously can never stop holding her." Farkle teased. "What can I say? I have a problem" I said as I gave Riley a kiss on the cheek.
"I can't believe were all going to be college, well except for Riley. You're technically already in college." Farkle said. "It's better than high school but I wish you guys could be there with me," she said as she leaned back on me. "I wish we could to." I said as I gave her another kiss. "Enough with the kisses." Maya said sarcastically. "You're just jealous." I said. "And I cry myself to sleep every night because of it!" she said sarcastically. After the bonfire, Maya and Farkle left and Riley and I decided to stay a little longer. We were sitting in the back of my truck looking up at the stars, I wanted to ask her to prom, I wanted to ask her to marry me. But it had to be in a special way, because she is very special to me. But maybe I didn't need to do anything extreme. I could do it right now because this moment was perfect. But I didn't even have a sign or anything. Then I remembered I had the necklace in my truck. "I'll be right back, I'm just going to get something out of my truck." I said as I got up and hopped out of the trunk. I opened the passenger seat and found the necklace. I didn't get to have prom engraved on it. But luckily, I found a sharpie and wrote prom on the inside of the case. The case was beautiful baby blue case, with lace all over it. I quickly made my way back to the trunk of my truck, to find Riley smiling up at the sky.
"Hey," I said as I hopped back in. "Hey, what did you go get?" she asked. "I think you might want to sit up for this." I said. She sat up and looked at me. "I've been wanting to do something special for you, for so long but I just didn't know what to do. You're really special to me and I wanted to find the right way to ask you this. So I got you this." I said as I handed her the jewelry box. Her face lit up. "What is this?" she asked. "Open it." I said. She slowly opened the box, then I watched as her mouth slowly opened. She looked at me and then back to the bracelet. "Lucas, it is beautiful." she said as she put it on. Maya was right, she didn't even noticed that I was asking her to prom. "What is this for?" she asked. "I think you should read the inside of the box." I said with chuckle. She picked the box back up and let out a squeal after she read it. "Yes!" she said as she jumped onto my lap and gave me a kiss.
Riley's POV:
"Oh my gosh, this was really sweet of you." I said as I hugged Lucas one more time. "Anything for you." he said. "It's getting pretty late, I think I should take you home now." Lucas said. I agreed and he drove me back to my apartment. He opened the car door for me and walked me to my door. "So I guess this is goodnight." He said. "I guess it is." I said as I got on my tip toes and gave him a kiss. In that moment, everything had changed. There was a new feeling in the air, it was more intense, more passionate. As the kiss deepened, I felt my knees begin to feel like jello, my heart started to beat faster than usual. It was like we couldn't get enough of each other, we couldn't pull apart. I just wanted more and so did he. "Wow." Lucas said as he exhaled. "I should probably go." He said as he gave me a quick hug and walked away. As I watched him drive away, I was leaning against the front door, with a stupid smile on my face. Lucas and I have made love before, we have made out so many times, but this kiss seemed to have topped all of that for some reason. I felt irresistible.
I was looking for something to wear to sleep when I found a small brown box in the corner of my closet. I had never seen that before. That was odd. I opened the box and on the inside, there was a small rose broche, and a letter. I picked up the broche with caution because it looked so fragile to me. The letter said:
Dear Riley Matthews,
If you are reading this letter, then you have found the small brown box that I have hidden in your closet. Inside, you will find a broche. Now you must keep this broche, protect it as if your life depended on it. This broche has been in the family for generations. My great grandmother gave it to my grandma, who gave it to my mother, who gave it to me, and I gave it to your mother and now I pass it on to you. I had this broche with me throughout every obstacle in my life. It was the broche I was wearing when I first met the love of my life. I even had it with me when I married him. Maybe the broche will be lucky for you one day. I hope one day you can pass this on to your kids and keep this going on for other generations to come… - T
T? Who do I know that has a name that starts with a letter T? I was starting to feel a little creeped out. So I closed my curtains and locked my windows. I covered every inch of my room that had a little peek of the outside world. I have no idea how this box could have gotten into my closet. I needed to find out who this person was.
So this is the end of Chapter 12. Again, I apologize for not updating as much as I should but in the next chapter we will find out more clues as to who T could be and also, we get to see the storyline of how Farkle got into Harvard. Also, will Amber return when the four friends attend prom together? Will things heat up with Riley and Lucas? I guess you'll just have to wait and see! Remember, this is all fiction so just go along with me. Stay tuned for Chapter 13! xx