Riley is back in school the next day, and just as Maya expected, they fall into their old routine. She takes the subway to and from school, and the group resumes hanging out in the courtyard at lunch. Maya finds herself biting back jokes from time to time, things no one but Lucas would get. Sometimes it feels like an intrusion, having all these people between them. But Maya's glad to have her best friend back, and that's all that matters.
Weeks go by, and admissions letters begin to trickle in. Riley gets into Cal State, the only school she was really interested in. Lucas gets into U of C, like he'd originally hoped, and a couple other schools spread across the country. Farkle gets into everything, but tries to pay his tuition on the spot when he gets his letter from MIT. Zay gets into a couple schools, including U of C with Lucas, but his smile is the widest when he gets his letter from Rice in Houston. It's the middle of March, decision time. Maya doesn't open her letters with the others. She gets rejected from Cal State, which she couldn't afford to go to anyways, and Columbia, which was a pipe dream, and gets into Rhode Island. She's waitlisted for Parsons and Pratt. But even if she gets in…she's starting to realize exactly how out of reach it might be, financially, for her to go to school at all. The others don't ask her too much about it, know she'll tell them when she's ready. Maya keeps Riley in the loop though.
One day they're sitting in the bay window, and Maya feels a pressure in her chest that stops her breath in her lungs.
"Maya?" Riley looks up from the Ikea catalog in her hands. Her smile drops off when she sees Maya. "Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?" She leans forward, putting her hands on Maya's face.
"I…" Maya isn't sure she can explain it. One minute they were looking at desks for Riley's dorm room in California, and the next she was thinking about her best friend living three thousand miles away. And she can't breathe.
Riley drops the magazine, scooting closer. She knows, because that's just how things are between them.
"I know." She murmurs, pulling Maya into a hug.
"I don't want you to go." Maya says.
Selfish. She thinks. Riley sighs.
"I don't want to go either, Peaches. You should just come with me. You could go to Coastline." She suggests. Maya makes a face. While she did get accepted to the college in Long Beach, and it would be close to Riley, the Arts program is hardly worth the price of the plane ticket.
"I can't." She sighs. If she's going to go into debt getting a degree, it might as well be one that's worth it. But her heart aches with longing at the idea of following Riley to the West Coast. They've never really been apart.
"What am I going to do without you?" Riley asks with a sigh, propping her chin on Maya's head. Maya chuckles.
"You're going to end up with so many bunnies." She mutters. Every few weeks Riley tries to bring a new rabbit home, smuggling it in through the window. Maya, without fail, takes them back to the park while her best friend sleeps. She loves Riley, but the girl can barely keep a goldfish alive. The top of her head begins to feel wet, and she glances up to see tears running down Riley's face. "Oh, Riles." She sighs.
"Am I making a mistake? I don't want to leave you, Maya." She sniffles. Maya smiles, even though it feels like her heart is breaking a little.
"No." She says firmly, and in that moment she knows it's the truth. "You're not making a mistake. Cal State is perfect for you, you're going to be amazing, and you're going to become a movie star, and I will always be there for you." She believes that. There are some friendships that distance can't break. Theirs is one of them. She knows it.
Riley falls silent, and the tears stop.
"Do you know…" She asks tentatively. Maya pulls away. Biting her lip, she reaches into her bag, and pulls out an envelope. She hands it to Riley, who turns it over in her hands. "Cornell." She realizes, looking up at Maya in surprise. "You haven't opened it?"
Maya shakes her head. It doesn't matter, really, whether or not she got in. She's pretty sure she can't afford to go unless she gets a full ride. And with her grades, that's beyond unlikely. Riley's fingers flutter at the seal, and Maya nods her on. She rips the top open, and pulls a bundle of papers from inside. There are enough there to make Maya's heart beat faster. Rejection letters usually aren't that thick.
"Miss Hart," Riley reads, "we are very pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Cornell University." She looks up, mouth hanging open. "Maya."
Maya stares at her, and this time it's her turn to cry. Riley sets the letter aside, scooping Maya back into her arms.
"I can't afford to go." She says feebly, collapsing into Riley in a way she normally would never let herself. But she's been carrying this weight around for months, and it's beginning to eat at her. The education she wants, the future she wants, it's right in front of her. And she can't have it.
"We'll figure it out." Riley says, and something about the words and her confidence remind Maya of Lucas. "We're going to make this work."
A few days later, Mr. Matthews comes up to her in the hallway. Riley and Farkle are still in AP Lit, so it's just Maya and Lucas sitting at the bottom of the stairs.
"Maya." He cocks his head, studying her. "Can I talk to you?" She's too lazy to get up, so she just shrugs. Cory frowns, looking at Lucas.
"I'll just…" He begins to walk off, but Maya catches him by the back of the shirt.
"You can stay." She tells him. Both men look at her, but she just throws her hands in the air.
"Come on Mr. Matthews, I can't take the suspense." She jokes. He pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket, then hands it to her.
"I know some people," He says, eyes shifting between her and Lucas. "At Cornell. They called me to ask for a recommendation and…" He gestures at the paper. Maya unfolds it, then reads aloud.
"Dear Mr. Matthews,
We were very impressed by your recommendation and have reconsidered Ms. Hart's application for financial aid. Upon reflection, FAFSA has decided she qualifies for the Pell grant, and furthermore we would like to offer her our Thompson Scholarship for students gifted in the Fine Arts."
Maya stops reading and stares at him. Her hand is still fisted in Lucas's shirt. Cory smiles at her.
"That's…the Pell grant is five grand." She says. It's barely half her tuition for the year, but it's still a lot of money. Cory smiles. "And the Thompson Scholarship is-"
"It's basically a full ride." Lucas says. She turns to stare at him in surprise.
"How do you know that?" She gapes. He rubs the back of his neck, a red tinge creeping across his cheeks.
"I looked it up." He mutters. Cory clears his throat, and Maya turns her attention back to him.
"I can't…" She says, the pressure behind her eyes building. "Thank you." She manages. And then she throws herself at him, startling him into stumbling back a couple steps. But then his arm winds around her, the other hand patting her on the head.
"You're welcome. You deserve it, Maya." He sounds a little choked up. Maya releases him and takes in his glassy eyes with a smile. Kermit might not have been a father to her, but she can't deny that there were times, both before and after Shawn came into their lives, when Cory was. And this is just one more thing she'll owe him for. His face turns a little more serious. "In order to be officially eligible you need to submit a five page essay and two pieces of original artwork. Do you think you can handle that?"
She nods. He gives her a last pat on the back, and then leaves. Maya lets out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
It isn't until Lucas speaks that she remembers he's there.
"Congratulations."
She squeaks in surprise and looks up to see him smiling at her.
"Thanks." She says, still in shock. She just stares at him for a minute, and then she lets out a whoop of elation. It suddenly hits her, like a million doors slamming open at once. "Oh my god!" She shouts, leaping at him. He catches her, and the embrace is pure joy. She's laughing, and her arms wind tightly around him, like he is this feeling and she never wants to let it go. The longer she holds on the more reluctant she is to pull away. But eventually she can feel his heart beating against her own chest, and she's painfully aware of how good he smells, and she's half way to pressing her lips against his neck when she realizes what she's doing. So she pulls back and staggers away. He looks like she feels, happy and skittish and nervy.
"So." He clears his throat. "I guess we're going to the same school."
She hadn't even thought of that. Her heart continues to pound in her chest.
"Uh." She blinks. "Yeah." And the thought of having Lucas there, even with Riley across the country and this thing hanging between them like a phantom, eases the aching in her chest. It's a good thing, she realizes. Having someone. And Lucas is certainly someone.
The bell rings, and as happens in high school, the halls fill with students. Riley finds them, weaving through the sea of bodies. She glances between Maya and Lucas, face carefully neutral.
"What's going on?" She asks. Maya just hands over the letter, because she's not sure she could find the words. Riley scans it, then shrieks.
"MAYA!" She shouts, tackling her friend and sending them both staggering into the stair railing. Maya hugs her back, fighting the happy tears, because she has a feeling she'll need them in a few months when it really is goodbye. Farkle appears, jumping into the mess of limbs and long hair. Zay is close on his heels.
"What are we doing?" Farkle asks, as the four of them rock back and forth, an entwined ball of smiles.
"Maya's going to Cornell." Lucas tells him, hanging back and watching the others with a grin. Farkle instantly begins spouting a list of the best courses offered in the Arts program there, but Maya can't hear him. All she can see, as she sways on the spot, arms wrapped around her closest friends, is Lucas. The light is filtering down on him, casting his already tanned skin in a golden glow. He looks far too angelic for her usual taste. And yet.
The friends break apart, Farkle patting her on the arm and Riley singing Cornell's school song, which Maya doesn't have a clue how she knows, and Maya can't take her eyes off Lucas.
But school is out, and they can't linger in the hallway all day.
"We should celebrate!" Riley says, clapping her hands together. "We've all figured out where we're going to go. Jenny O'Leary is throwing a party, we should go."
It's a Friday, and Jenny's parties are always an absolute gong show, so Maya makes no protest. It will be good to let off some steam. Maya and Riley head to the Matthews', the boys promising to meet them there later.