Okay, this chapter is a bit more filler-y because I cut it off for reasons. Bear with me ahahah, I woke up too early and now I'm reeling from fatigue. I didn't want to rush the next bit after this so I decided to only publish this chunk :3

Awww you guys are so sweet! Thank you for the reviews and the kind words! It really means a lot to me, and I'm happy you guys are enjoying the story! Thank you so much all of you for your support! It warms my heart and I am glad you are giving this story a chance! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own GMW or A Walk To Remember.


"So what are you doing after school today?" Jennifer asked Lucas, leaning close to him to the point where all he could smell was her sharp perfume.

It was burning his eyes.

"I have to volunteer today at the hospital." Lucas said, fighting the urge to wince.

"Oh…" Jennifer grinned even wider. "Well, I found this perfect spot in the city. It's super private and has gorgeous scenery and stuff. Zay told me you like to look at the stars. Wanna check it out right now?"

She was very obviously propositioning him. He could tell from the way she was smiling coquettishly, leaning into him and looking up at him through her eyelashes. Had anyone ever told her that she was trying too hard? He felt a little bad for her if he was going to be perfectly honest. The entire school probably knew she was trying to bag him. It made her look pretty pathetic if you asked him.

It wasn't a particularly nice thing to think. But then again, Lucas wasn't in a very nice mood.

He was worried about Maya.

He hadn't seen her at school all day, and it seemed like she skipped lunch. He usually saw her at least once before lunch and a couple times afterward as she roamed the halls to her classes. He just wanted to make sure everything had been okay, but he got the distinct feeling that Maya was avoiding him on purpose and that only served to irritate him. What had he even done that was so bad?

Quite frankly, he thought she would have thanked him for helping her mother.

"Maybe some other time. Besides, it's the middle of the school day." Lucas said, moving away from her when he couldn't take the disgusting scent anymore.

He ignored the pinched look of annoyance on her face as he walked over to where Zay was rummaging through his locker.

"Dude, you're missing out on a great rack, you know?" Zay said as he watched him approach, "Mitch says she's a good one. What's stopping you?"

"Seriously?" Lucas rolled his eyes. "What is up with you guys trying to get me to hook up with Jennifer?

"We just think you need to get laid. With this whole you getting in trouble thing, we think you need to loosen up. A lot. You're seriously uptight."

Lucas let out an annoyed sigh, getting ready to tell Zay that he did not, in fact, need to get laid and that he was perfectly fine with listening to music as a détente from the current difficulties and struggles in his life. And even if he did choose to get laid, it would definitely not be with Jennifer, who'd probably been passed around between more guys than the amount of men in the city Brandon liked to say Maya's mother had been passed between.

A flash of blonde hair caught his peripheral and Lucas turned his head, looking in that direction. He saw Maya, on her way to turning the corner of the hallway leading to the basement. She was carrying a fairly large box. It looked heavy. Even he could tell from his position next to the lockers, quite a distance away, that she was struggling to carry it. Yet, no students would stop to help her and she trudged on, her small arms straining to clutch onto the box. She briefly paused as she tried to go past a group of conversing students blocking her path, her mouth moving as she said something to them. They glanced at her, but no one moved at all, and then Lucas watched as Maya continued on anyway, ramming the box into someone and then trampling on another's toes, bulldozing her way straight through them and not giving a damn at their appalled looks.

Lucas cracked a smile at that, chuckling slightly to himself at her actions.

"Lucas. Yo, Lucas? You all there, man?" Zay asked, waving his hand in front of Lucas face.

"Yeah… uh, see you later?"

Lucas walked away from his confused friend, hurrying down the hall and turning the corner to go down the corridor Maya was headed. He saw her small form labouring on, her ponytail swishing behind her in reckless abandon.

He fell into step beside her, smiling slightly when she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

She didn't smile back.

"Hey… You want me to carry that for you?"

"I don't need your help."

It was clearly a lie. She was having some difficulty lugging the box.

"Okay…" Lucas rubbed the back of his neck, feeling somewhat awkward and put off by her sharp reply. "Uh… Was everything okay with your mom? You know, after I left?"

Maya glared at him, her eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Is your mom okay?"

"She's fine." Maya snapped. "Butt out. It's none of your business."

Lucas was taken aback by her obvious bad mood and his brows furrowed, feeling a spike of irritation at her words.

"Look, I'm just trying to be nice." He scoffed. "Do you always have to bite my head off when I talk to you?"

"I'm not a charity case, Huckleberry. I don't need your 'pity' or your 'niceness'."

Lucas frowned, staring down at her incredulously, really feeling irritated by her now. She was really cranky and clearly pissed off about something. Was she taking her anger out on him or something?

"What's with the extra dose of bitchiness today? I literally just wanted to know if your mom was alright, and now I'm getting chewed out for caring?"

"I said it was none of your business. Maybe I don't want to share my life with you. Did you ever think about that?" Maya growled. "But no. Mr. Perfect here thinks that he's entitled to knowing everything about everyone. And all of a sudden, I'm a bitch because I like to keep my private life just that: private."

It stunned him into silence to the point where he stopped walking, staring after Maya in shock as she continued to slowly make her way towards the basement steps. It surprised him to see her this way. Sure, Lucas realized that she was incredibly closed off by nature and always had her guard up, but he had been hoping that she might loosen hers up a bit around him. Maybe they weren't friends per se, but he thought maybe she'd let him in a little bit after what he'd seen. He didn't think there was anything particularly wrong with updating him on her mother's condition, but clearly, she had some issues with trust.

With a sigh, Lucas caught up to her.

"I'm sorry for overstepping."

"You've got one more thing to apologize for too, Hopalong."

Lucas' eyebrow twitched at the nickname, and his jaw clenched. "Fine. So maybe you're not being a bitch for wanting your life to be private, but you are taking out your anger on me for no reason, and that is bitchy. So I'm not apologizing. And for the record, I wasn't pitying you. I was genuinely concerned. What did I even do in the first place for you to be mad at me?"

Maya stared at him for a moment, not particularly emoting anything on her face. And then she sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

"I'm not mad at you."

"So you just snap at me for shits and giggles because it's that easy."

"Look Huckleberry." Maya said sharply, "I have a headache, and I'm tired. I just don't want to deal with anybody's shit right now."

Lucas could hear the fatigue in her voice. He glanced down at her and realized she was favouring her right side, grimacing and limping a bit. She was breathing a little hard, and Lucas could easily see the bags under her eyes. Where was all this stubbornness coming from when she was clearly in pain? He'd offered to help her, but she had refused when clearly she needed it.

Without a word, Lucas came around in front of her and reached down to take the box from her arms, ignoring her indignant hey!. But Maya had a better grip on it than he thought, and she pulled back, tugging it slightly away from him. Lucas held on, staring her down, clearly noting the challenge in her eyes.

"Maya." Lucas said slowly through grit teeth, leaning down with narrowed eyes, "You're in pain. Just let me get this for you."

"I don't need your—"

"I don't care. Give me the box."

Maya snarled up at him, her lips curled in disgust. "Hey hotshot. I'm not some damsel in distress who needs Prince Charming to swoop in and save her ass, you know? Now let go before I kick you where it hurts."

Lucas shifted his grip, his hands covering and supporting her slightly shaking wrists.

"Maya, you're trembling from the effort." Lucas said incredulously, "Just give me the box. If you don't want to think about it as me helping you, then think about it as me owing you a favour for ruining the sets."

Maya averted her gaze to the ground with a low growl of annoyance before finally nodding.

"Fine."

"See? Was that so hard?"

She narrowed her eyes at him before transferring the box into his hands. Once she'd made sure he had a steady hold, she pulled her wrists out from under his grasp. And then she briefly winced, lifting up her right arm and staring at it. There was a small, fresh, blotchy red bruise on the skin of her wrist.

"Ouch. That looks like it hurts. Sorry." Lucas apologized. "Did I do that when I took the box?"

"N-no…" Maya swallowed thickly. "It's no big deal. Don't worry about it."

But the more he watched her, the more he was starting to notice that she looked a little off. Her shoulders were slumped and her breathing was a little ragged, like she just couldn't catch her breath. Even her face was kind of pale. She just looked exhausted. What was going on with her?

"Maya?" He asked in concern, taking a small step closer to her, "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Maya said in a small voice, staring at the ground. "I-I just need to go to the nurse to lie down."

"Okay…" Lucas was unconvinced. "Where do you want me to put this?"

"The art room. Can you tell Ms. Kossal I'm in the nurse's office and can't be in class today?" Maya turned around, walking in the opposite direction, slightly limping as she kept most of her weight off of her right leg. "We have the tutoring program at the hospital today. I'll see you after school, okay?"

Lucas stared at her, confused by the interaction they'd just had.

What was up with Maya?

~.~.~

As soon as the bell let out for the last period of classes, Lucas shot out of his seat, leaving class and heading straight towards the nurse's office instead of his usual route to the lockers where his friends would typically hang out after school. He tried to tell himself it was just because he was planning on giving Maya a ride to the tutoring program, but truth be told, he had been worried about her the rest of the day, wondering if she had gotten enough rest in the nurse's office. He just wanted to check up on her and see if she was okay. He didn't know why, but he really wanted to make sure she was alright. He suspected part of it might have had to do with what he had seen of her home life, but another part of him told him it was something else, though he couldn't pinpoint what.

As he approached the nurse's office, he heard someone giggling inside and knocked before pushing the door open.

"Maya? You there?"

The occupants of the room turned and stared at him as he walked in.

It wasn't Maya.

It was Farkle and Riley, sitting in chairs beside an empty cot with ruffled blankets. As soon as he made eye contact with them, Farkle bristled, his expression darkening. Riley's smile dropped from her lips, her face twisting into an uneasy expression. She slipped her hand into Farkle's, giving him a gentle squeeze.

"Maya went to the bathroom." Farkle said through clenched teeth, "What do you want?"

"I was… just going to ask her if she was feeling better." Lucas said, a little put off by the blatant animosity from him.

Neither Farkle nor Riley responded, still staring at him like he was intruding somewhere he was unwanted. Lucas stood there awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and feeling completely uncomfortable. Lucas knew there were people in the school who didn't like him, and even though he expected it, it still didn't make it any less surprising to be on the receiving end of such unabashed distaste. People usually kept it hidden for the most part. But he could literally feel the waves of displeasure towards him.

And he didn't blame them.

Not after what they'd gone through that Monday. He hadn't seen them in the cafeteria any other days after that fiasco.

And he knew what he had to do.

"Farkle…" Lucas started, dropping his arm by his side.

Farkle's eyes narrowed suspiciously, his guard clearly fully in place.

"What?"

"…I wanted to apologize." Lucas said, "I'm sorry about Monday. I was angry about something, and I took it out on you, and I shouldn't have. You didn't deserve what the guys did to you."

He turned to Riley. "And you didn't deserve to get harassed by Brandon either."

They stared at him silently, the bewilderment on their faces clearly visible. Lucas could see Farkle was still eyeing him warily, but there was a muted curiosity that had slithered its way into his gaze.

"You can accept his apology, Farks." Lucas heard Maya say from somewhere behind him. "He's being sincere."

Lucas turned around in surprise, not having expected her to be behind him. How long had she been standing there?

Maya was leaning against the door frame wearing a small, pleased smirk on her lips as she stared up at Lucas. Lucas was relieved to see that Maya looked a lot better than earlier that afternoon. She no longer looked as fatigued as she had been, and she was no longer pale.

"Maya."

"Looks like you might not be a total asshole after all."

She straightened and went further inside the room, walking over to where Farkle and Riley were sitting beside the bed.

"C'mon guys. He can give us all a ride to the hospital so we don't have to take the subway."

Riley's brows furrowed. "Maya… are you sure that's a good idea?"

Maya leaned down, softly patting Riley's cheeks.

"Riley, it's a free car ride and my joints are still sore. Even if you guys don't feel like it, I'd rather have a more comfortable seat that won't chafe."

Riley hesitated, staring at the ground and chewing on her lower lip anxiously. Farkle was giving Maya an incredulous look.

"Maya, I'm sorry, but I'd rather not." Farkle said, outright glaring at Lucas, "Plus who cares if he apologized? It's not like he's going to change or anything. He's still part of them. He's just going to do the same shit again."

Lucas sighed, expecting this kind of backlash. Honestly, he got a lot of flak for the people he hung out with. Granted, his friends weren't exactly the nicest people or most morally inclined a lot of times, but Lucas wasn't his friends. And for some reason, everyone always saw him as such.

Maya had done that to an extreme when they'd first spoken on Monday, ranting at him and taking out her frustrations on him because of what his friends did. Lucas knew he wasn't the best guy, and he'd done his fair share of terrible things, but he wouldn't lie. He was really starting to get fed up with everybody seeing him as this delinquent who was just as bad as some of the worst guys in his group of friends. Yes, he'd made mistakes, but he was nowhere near as bad as Brandon and Mitch and some of the guys. He wasn't the same as them.

"I can see plain as day, you want out."

Maybe Janitor Harley had been right. Maybe he really did want out.

"You know, I get it. I get you hating me because of my friends. I know how they behave most of the time. But I'm not my friends." Lucas said indignantly, and all three turned their gazes to him. He was addressing all three of them, but his gaze was locked with Maya's. "I get you hating me because I was an asshole to you, but you hating me because of who I hang out with makes you no better than Brandon who bullies people who are in your friend group just because of association."

Riley inhaled sharply, her eyes widening the slightest bit as she passed a poignant look at Farkle. Farkle's expression was still closed off, though Lucas did note his scowl loosened.

"Look, I'm not asking you to forgive me. I know I was wrong." Lucas finished, "I just wanted to apologize for Monday. It shouldn't have happened. That's all I wanted to say. Sorry for bothering you."

He turned around and left the nurse's office, hoping that his apology got through to them at the very least, though he doubted they would be accepting it any time soon. But he'd said what he needed to. He'd made an effort to make amends, and even though he knew it would probably be a while before he gained any trust from anyone he'd hurt, he knew he'd made a step in the right direction.

And it did feel a little good, knowing that he was taking steps to make things right.

But he had no time to think about that at the moment. He had to get to the hospital for the tutoring. It wouldn't do to be late on his very first day.

"Lucas."

With a start, he almost did a double take when he realized Maya had come up beside him. He hadn't even seen her or heard her approach.

And then he blinked at her in shock when he realized what she had just said.

Lucas stopped in the middle of the emptying hallway, just staring down at her. Maya was looking up at him with a slightly raised brow, her lips quirked up in a small smile.

"You called me Lucas." He said, honestly surprised.

"That's because I have more respect for you now."

"…Good to know…" Lucas said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"I mean it." Maya responded, regarding him seriously. "You did right, you know? And it takes a lot of courage to apologize to someone sincerely. Not many people do that these days."

Lucas didn't know how to respond, a little taken aback by her obvious appraisal. He searched the beautiful, stormy blue-grays, only finding sincerity and a sort of admiration hidden in the depths of her gaze. The praise surprised him. It was only yesterday (and really the day before that too) that she had told him straight to his face that she did not like him.

"And you're right." Maya continued, momentarily dropping her gaze to the ground, something like shame in her expression, "You aren't your friends. And it's not fair that you keep getting pegged like them. So I'm sorry. Because I know I did that to you. More than once."

Lucas stared at her, wondering if this really was the same Maya Hart from this week who had all but sunk her claws into his face. Before he could overthink it, Lucas stepped closer to her, leaning down the slightest bit and gently resting his hand on her forehead.

"Where's Maya Hart, and what have you done with her?" He joked. "You aren't sick, are you?"

He had only been playing around, teasing a little bit, but Maya remained silent, her cheeks slowly flushing red with a blush. Her usually harsh expression had softened, becoming warm and almost bashful. Lucas' playful grin slowly fell from his face as he stared down at her, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. Her eyes were mesmerizing, and Lucas found he couldn't tear his gaze away from her.

"Maya…" he said softly, "You're blushing."

Eyes widening the slightest bit, she took a wide step back from him, flustered and almost nervous and eyes darting around, looking anywhere but him before she finally settled on a frown and glowered up at him. She looked embarrassed. Lucas found it pretty amusing.

She was cute.

"Be quiet. Anyway, Farkle and Riley said they'll come with us. I have to see Ms. Kossal really quickly." Maya said, already spinning around and hurrying off, "Wait in the parking lot for us, okay?"

"Okay…"

He didn't know why, but as he watched Maya scurry away, her ponytail whipping side by side, he couldn't help the small smile that came on his face.