A/N: LOL why can't shoes be in bigger sizes?! I hate this! I can never find any shoes my size whenever I go shopping! x'( LOL fun fact. Sometimes I have to shop in the men/boy's sections to find what I'm looking for ahahah. (Then again, sweaters and sweatpants in the men's section are more comfy though... bah whatevs)

Thank you for the sweet words you guys! I appreciate the reviews and I thank you for the support you guys have given me! I love you! :)

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


Lucas sighed dejectedly, swiping the broom across the same spot in the classroom absentmindedly, barely paying attention to the fact that he was dragging the dust back and forth over the same area.

But his mind wasn't on his task at hand.

It was still on Maya.

He'd ruined everything. He had lost her friendship and trust, and he knew it would take a lot to even get her to speak to him again, but he wasn't sure what to do. When he tried to talk to her, she blew him off without remorse and half the time, she wasn't even around and he wasn't sure where to go to find her.

"Look kid," Janitor Harley said from underneath one of the desks he was fixing, "If you're just going to clean the same spot over and over, I might as well just do it myself."

"Sorry." Lucas muttered apologetically, turning his attention back to what he was supposed to be doing, "I'm just kind of lost in my thoughts."

"I noticed. Is this about you no longer hanging out with those so called friends of yours who like to turn my school building into their own personal garbage dump?" he asked in return, "Congrats on leaving that group, Friar."

It was pretty much safe to say that Lucas was no longer friends with them. Lucas had been ignoring them. And they had been ignoring him too, which was fine by him. He didn't need negativity in his life right now and he'd made up his mind to end the friendship anyway. This was a good thing.

But he felt empty.

He missed Maya and her snark. The way her face would sour in annoyance when she was displeased. The way she would look at him curiously like she was trying to read him. The way her eyes would spark in amusement and she would bite her lower lip when she was trying to hold back a laugh. How calming and comforting her presence was. How seeing her genuine smile light up her face always set his pulse on fire.

But he didn't know what to do or where to start to fix this mess.

And Riley and Farkle had been ignoring him too, though Riley kept giving him these apologetic shrugs. And it was with good reason. They were only friends with him by association through Maya and he knew they still didn't totally trust him, though he had gotten to know them a little bit better. So it made sense to him that once he'd broken Maya's trust, they'd stopped talking to him too.

It was funny how one really wrong decision he'd made because he wasn't even secure in himself or who he was had ended up with him alone.

But despite all of that, the part that hurt the most wasn't his isolation—ironically, considering that was what he used to be the most afraid of if he stepped out of his status as a popular student.

What hurt the most was Maya's decision to eject him from her life.

It was Maya deciding he wasn't worth it as a friend.

It was Maya all but telling him that he was unredeemable.

"Kid. You gotta get your head outta your ass. You're making the floor dirtier than it was before we even got in here!"

"Sorry… I was just…" Lucas sighed, stopping entirely. "How did you make the change, Harley?"

"What?" Harley stood up from his crouch, glancing at Lucas.

"You told me you used to be involved in some bad stuff once." Lucas responded, "How did you change without losing everything of who you were?"

"Well first off. To not lose who you are, you need to know who you are." Harley said as he walked over.

"What if I don't know?" Lucas asked quietly.

"Then find someone who does. Someone who can see the real you and brings it out. Someone who brings out the best in you." Harley nudged him with a small smirk. "Someone like for example… a certain pint sized blonde who stomped on Mitch's toes today because he tried to steal a freshman's lunch money."

Lucas' lips curved up in a small smile. That was just like Maya to do that.

"You understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah."

He needed to talk to Maya. He needed to keep trying until she let him back in. It was the only way.

"In the meantime, get." Harley said, taking the broom out of Lucas' hand, "My floor's not getting clean, and you're clearly not in it today."

"Sorry."

"It's fine. Just go find her." Harley gave him a pointed raised brow. "Don't come back until you figure out how to fix this mess. I feel like you're not gonna be any help otherwise."

Lucas nodded and left, hurrying out of the room to go find Maya. He headed down the hall and through the empty corridors of the school to the stairs leading to the basement. He hoped Maya would at least listen to a little bit of what he had to say.

When he entered the muggy studio art room, he had expected Maya to be in there painting as she usually did, but she wasn't in there. Ms. Kossal was, looking at some art work by students on the wall and seemingly grading them.

"Uh, excuse me."

She turned and smiled when she saw him. "Lucas. You know there are no more sets to paint right? Maya finished up the last two the day you were out sick."

"…Out sick?"

"Last Thursday I believe? She told me you were sick and couldn't make it."

"Right… yeah… I forgot we were done."

Maya had lied and excused his deliberate lack of showing up after he had insulted her in front of his friends as him being sick. She could have easily told what he'd actually done. He felt even worse about it than he did before.

"Do you know where Maya is?"

"Maya?" Ms. Kossal said, turning back around and continuing to grade paintings, "Oh she's in the drama room checking up on some of the completed sets to see if they need a touch-up. But she's been there for a while, so I'd hurry up if I were you so you can catch her before she leaves."

"Thank you."

Lucas left the art room, heading back up the stairs and towards the theatre, knowing that was where the drama room was. He only hoped Maya wouldn't be armed with a paint and paintbrush. She had a tendency to attack with whatever was on hand, and he wasn't sure he wanted a paint brush shoved in his mouth or a paint can dumped on him. Though he knew there was also the possibility of her foregoing using props and utilizing her tried and true method of stomping on toes.

As he approached the drama room, seriously questioning the safety of his wellbeing, he heard some stray notes. Lucas stopped walking for a moment, brows furrowed as he listened.

Someone was singing.

And it was beautiful.

The kind of smoky, deep, rich voice that was enchanting, and Lucas found himself lost in a slight daze as he just listened to the person.

He knew the voice.

As he walked the rest of the way and into the doorway, as he suspected, he saw Maya. She was traipsing about on stage, acting out the role of the lead and singing the lead part for the winter play. Having heard the lead sing it several times whenever he and Maya would transport the set pieces, it sounded weird not hearing the other girl's lilting, honey-like voice. But not weird bad. Maya's voice fit oddly well. It certainly was different, but the way Maya sang it, it was remarkable and powerful and made Lucas' heart race as he watched her. It was hard to take his eyes off of her as she jumped around and danced exaggeratedly on stage, expressive and excited, just as the lead should be.

She was beautiful up there, the spotlight on her as she spun around, singing to her heart's content.

There was just something about it—Maya unabashedly singing without any reservations, a smile on her face and her eyes bright—that made Lucas wonder if she had ever really let herself go before. If she was always holding back. If she was always closed off normally. If anyone had ever heard her sing before. She looked so at peace and so free up there, he couldn't help but smile.

And then Maya saw him and stopped mid spin, almost immediately clamming up as she stared at him.

Neither said a word, Maya just blinking at him, an almost look of embarrassment on her face as her cheeks rouged.

"Don't stop…" Lucas heard himself whisper, though he wasn't sure he had told himself to say the words in the first place.

"There are no more sets to paint." Maya snapped, moving off of the raised platform in the room and snatching up her bag from the floor. She slung it over her shoulder. "What do you want?"

"Nothing… I was just…"

Maya didn't respond, grabbing the paint can she'd left near the completed sets.

"Why didn't you participate in the play? You have a beautiful voice."

"The spotlight isn't for me."

"But you're amazing."

"Tell you what. I'll stop standing in the background when you stop being an asshole." Maya walked by him on her way out with a glare aimed at him. "But I guess that'll never happen."

She began to leave, brushing past him without another look and Lucas felt his trepidation rise. Those were the first words she'd spoken to him in a while, much less first time she even acknowledged him directly, and he would be damned if he let her go before he had a chance to try to fix things.

Lucas turned around and took her wrist, stopping her before she could really leave.

"Maya," he said, "I'm sorry, okay? You don't know how sorry I am, and I feel like shit. I learned my lesson. I was stupid, and I made a mistake. I made the wrong choice, and I regret it so much because you never deserved that kind of treatment. I really do care about you. And the friendship we were building is more important to me than you know. I want it back. What can I do to make it up to you? Just tell me. Please."

Maya's gaze remained on the floor, and she was silent for a long while. But she didn't pull her arm out of his grasp or stomp on his foot or clobber him with the paint can in her other hand, and Lucas wondered if he'd gotten through to her.

"If you have to ask me what you can do to fix a mistake you made," Maya finally muttered, lifting her gaze and meeting his, "Then you haven't learned anything yet, Lucas."

He was surprised to see that the anger in her eyes was no longer there. There was still indifference. Still a disappointment, but there was something else there. He wouldn't necessarily say hope, and he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but it made him feel like Maya might have partially opened up a sliver of the tightly locked guard she had on her life to him.

He felt like maybe he had an opening once again. One chance to make it right.

But he also knew damn well that if he screwed this up though, it would be over for good.

"Let go of me." She was staring at the ground again. "I have somewhere I need to be right now."

Lucas loosened his grip and let her wrist slip out of his hand. Maya walked on without another word, leaving him behind staring after her. He sighed, wondering how long it would take before he could fix the things he'd screwed up so badly.

Maya was wrong. He had learned his lesson. The hard way.

But he still had no idea what to do to get her back.