Author's Note: Thank you once again for those who have reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! I don't really have anything to say this time except for: please don't forget to review! It makes me want to keep writing, because I love hearing feedback, whether it's a good note or constructive criticism! So, go ahead and comment! (Edited by Chereche!)
UPDATED: 11-28-16
Disclaimer: I don't own Girl Meets World, just the story!
Chapter Six: Something Different
She probably would have thrown the phone out the window, except her mother opened her door, bringing a smile and a "good morning" wake up call.
"Hey, Baby Girl. I'm headed off to the diner, so you know the rules: no friends, no sneaking out, and yes on the chores getting done," Ms. Hart listed as she peeked her head in through the crack of the door.
Maya rolled her head to face her mother, not fully awake yet. She was already in a bad mood, because the first thing she had woken up to was a text message, and she couldn't express how much she didn't want to get up and be productive.
"Can I at least go and see Riley today? We were planning on meeting up at the park later if you said yes," she asked grumpily.
"Again? You just saw each other 3 days ago!" Her mother came in fully.
"She's my best friend, mom." Maya reminded.
"Yes, and you're her best friend, who also happens to be grounded!"
"Fine," she snapped, and turned to lay on her back, as she glared up at the ceiling.
Her mother groaned, and leaned against the doorway, rubbing her forehead.
"I am such a pushover...Yes, you may go, as long as you realize this is the last time. After this, I am enforcing the grounding...for real this time."
"Okay, thank you—" At her mother's gesture to go on, she rolled her eyes and continued. "And I will get all of my chores and homework finished again, I understand."
"Great." Ms. Hart brightened. "Have a good day, sweetie, and I will see you later tonight, okay?"
Maya nodded at her mother, watched her close the door, and sighed as she realized she had to get up. She didn't want to deal with picking out an outfit, which lately now took her almost a half-hour to decide. What was wrong with her? Even just thinking about it made her feel vain; who takes 30 minutes to choose something to wear? And then she had to put on makeup, making sure to cover up her swollen, black and blue eye, and all the little cuts and bruises that were healing quickly, but were still there. Then of course, there was the stuff that didn't have to with her appearance - chores, homework...
Her life right now kind of felt like a movie on replay, done over and over again. She got in trouble, dealt with the consequences, did something else, got grounded. And that was just the overview. Everyday felt the same too. Her daily routine, the insecurity filling it all, chores, homework, hang out with her friends, attempt to draw, sneak out at night. Maybe that was part of the reason Maya felt like she needed to do something with her cousins; it was exciting, it was rebellious, it was a break from her tedious and boring life. It felt good, too. They didn't rag on her like her friends tended to do, even if they meant well, or treat her different because she was a little younger than them. Maya actually felt like she belonged, even if it had only been 3 days.
Her phone buzzed, and Maya stretched a hand lazily to pick it up, blinking at the screen as it turned on, the brightness hurting her eyes.
Riley: Did your mom say yes?!
Maya: I'll meet you guys there around 4, okay?
Riley: Yay! :D
And as much as she loved Riley, everyone needed a vacation from Rileytown every once in a while, and that's exactly what her cousins offered. A break, a relief, and a place where she could let loose a little bit. It felt like freedom.
"She'll be here, Riley." Lucas looked up at his friend as she paced, chuckling a little bit at her ridiculousness.
"Yah, don't worry Riley," Zay mocked, stuffing a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "I know the world depends on your friendship, but I think a couple more minutes won't kill you."
She stomped over to him and huffed, her breath creating a tiny puff in the chilly, fall air.
"Maya's already—" She glanced over at Farkle hopefully.
He sighed, sick of playing this game. "3 minutes and 7...8...9—"
"Seconds late!" Riley finished.
"How about 10?" Maya asked, walking into the clearing.
"Acceptable, but not to be tolerated in the future!" She raised her nose in the air teasingly, turning her head towards her friend.
"Yah, I'll keep that in mind. Hey, Huckleberry, Robot, Zay." She looked at each one in turn.
"Wait, how come I don't get a nickname?" Zay asked, clearly offended. "Everyone else has one."
"Oh, you want one?" Maya raised her eyebrows.
"You have a death wish." Farkle cocked his head at the boy.
Zay smiled at him, then directed his attention back to Maya.
"Yah, I do. Let's see what you got!"
"Oh, just shut up, Nutcracker." She smirked.
"And there it is." Lucas laughed.
"It's always about the ballet," Zay muttered, thoughtfully chewing on a piece of popcorn. "I have made some bad decisions in my life, man."
"So," Riley skipped up to Maya, and linked arms with her, much to her friend's dismay. "How's your grounding been?"
"Yah, have you snuck out yet?" Farkle grinned.
"None of your business..." Maya replied primly.
"Where do you think she went?" Lucas asked, leaning forward, an amused look on his face.
"Oh, I don't know. Probably somewhere where people like to ride on fire-breathing horses, and there's no school. Or maybe a place where volcanoes cover the world and there's a 24/7 food fight," Zay guessed.
"That would be awesome!" Maya agreed, nodding her head. "But no."
"Ah, so she finally admits to her crime of sneaking out!" Lucas announced triumphantly.
Riley turned back to Maya, a pout on her lips.
"You promised you wouldn't sneak out, Peaches."
"Actually, I think that's the thing I said I'd specifically not promise," Maya corrected.
"So, are you going to tell us where you did go?" Farkle leaned back against the green, wooden bench.
"Maybe, some other time." She sat down next to Lucas, with Riley beside her.
"Okay, then you get to tell me how your homework is going."
Everyone groaned. "Farkle."
Maya rolled her eyes, but Riley answered for her, eagerness filling her voice.
"Wonderful! We did some on Friday, and she got an A- on her history questions!"
"You graded them?" the blonde asked in disbelief.
"Every. Single. One."
Maya shook her head, and threw up her hands.
"I will never understand you."
"You got an A-? No way," Zay scoffed. "You could barely get a C."
"Hey, Nutcracker, watch it. You and I both know the same song very well."
He smirked. "Yah, I do."
"What song?" Farkle asked in confusion.
"You know," Maya laughed and cleared her throat. "D-D-D-D-D-D-F."
The rest of the group looked at the two in confusion, as they practically burst out laughing.
"That's why we're on this side of the room now." Riley nodded slowly, still watching the other two.
"No kidding," Lucas agreed.
"Okay, so how much longer is the suspension, Maya?" Farkle spoke over their antics.
"Uh, like a week?" Maya squinted, the last of her chuckling dying down.
"And then it's back to school with you!" Riley hugged her. "I missed having you in History. And in English. Oh, and Math, Science, and P.E."
"That's real sweet, honey." Maya said, returning the hug.
"And we're not going to get in any more trouble, right?" Lucas added. "I know we haven't really discussed your whole fight thing, but you're not going to repeat it, correct?"
She sighed. "Don't wish too hard, Ranger Rick."
"Maya—" He started.
"Hey, speaking of trouble, are any of you involved in the school's community service thing?" Zay interrupted.
"I am," Lucas answered, sounding a little irritated.
"Ha. Guess what you get to clean next week?" Zay laughed.
"Let me guess. The school itself?" Farkle replied.
"Yup! Man, Lucas. You're in for a lot of fun."
"You should join me, then," he scowled.
Zay shook his head vigorously.
"It was your own fault for signing up in the first place!"
"Hey, I get extra credit!"
"Wait, why do you have to clean the school?" Maya asked, trying to seem ignorant and nonchalant, though she felt heat rush to her cheeks.
"You didn't hear?" Riley said in shock.
"Obviously not. What happened?" she shrugged, continuing to play along. There was no way she was admitting that she had done the vandalism.
"Some kids basically decided it would be fun to spray paint the whole outside of our school." Lucas replied angrily. "Seriously, like everything; the walls, the benches, the sidewalks."
"It's a mess." Farkle added.
Maya paled, her heart thumping a little. Why was it so hard for her to be calm about this? She had hidden tons of things before, hadn't she?
Just not necessarily from her friends, and certainly not this big. Maya tried to clear all of her emotions from her face, but it was too late, as her friends had already taken notice of her expression.
"Maya?" Riley shook her arm in concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yah, I'm fine, Riles. Just—thinking."
"About what?"
"How seriously unlucky I am." she allowed herself to utter.
The rest of the group looked at each other in confusion, but they knew they would find out what she meant later; they always did.
"Maya's back! Back in school!" Riley hummed. "Today is the day, that she comes back!"
"Do you have to sing everything?" Farkle sighed.
"My life is one, big sparkly musical, Farkle. I have no choice," she responded happily.
Lucas sat down in his seat, and leaned forward.
"What are you guys talking about?"
"How life is one big song and dance number," Farkle shrugged. "So, the usual."
"I thought you liked plays and musicals," Lucas said.
"I do. In moderation."
The bell rang, and Mr. Matthews didn't appear. Riley immediately started watching the clock so she could time how long he was gone for.
"That's weird," Lucas remarked. "He hasn't done that for awhile, now."
"Well, it usually means something different or exciting is going to happen, so we should expect some kind of special lesson or event," Farkle guessed.
Almost a minute after he said that, Mr. Matthews walked in with an odd expression on his face.
"I'm sorry for being late, I was helping someone find their way back to the classroom."
A small figure slipped into the room; and Farkle, Lucas, and Zay gaped at her, trying to find something to say. Riley on the other hand had no problems, as she wasn't even paying attention.
"Daddy, you were 2 minutes late. You're a teacher; you have to be here, no exceptions." Riley turned around to face Farkle, smiling proudly. "See, I timed it myself this time."
"That's great, look at Maya now, okay?" He pointed to the figure.
"Maya's here? Yay, now everything can get back to normal!" Her smile faded quickly. "Peaches, what have you done?"
Maya looked over her clothes, scanning them for a flaw.
"Um, you don't like the jeans?"
"No! What did you do to your hair?" Riley shrieked.
"Trying something new." Maya shrugged, sliding into her seat.
"Well, that's definitely new," Lucas agreed, in surprise.
"So, guys. Does anyone remember where we left off on Friday?" Mr. Matthews had finally managed to wipe the shocked look on his face, and get back into his teaching mode.
"Were we studying nuclear based things?" Zay asked, his eyes fixed on Maya's hair.
She flipped around and gave him a warning smile.
"I just dyed it blue, okay? Will you calm down?"
"It's blue, Maya!" Riley reminded, concerned.
She turned to her friend, knowing how to win her over, at least temporarily.
"You know what else is blue? The ocean. And you know what's in the ocean? Pretty little fishies and happy dolphins."
Riley's face turned to one of pleasure and her eyes sparkled happily.
"Oh, nee," Farkle said, switching to Dutch, and face palming like a cartoon character.
"Riley's gone," Lucas said sadly.
"If it's alright with you four, I'd like to get back to teaching now, okay?" Mr. Matthews glared pointedly at them. "Great. So, we were actually studying about art, remember? All different kinds of art; modern, renaissance, abstract, realism, and so much more. We were discussing how art is important to us, and why it is so influential in our world and of course, history."
"You pointed out yesterday how important it still is by the evidence we have in our everyday lives." Smackle spoke up.
"Can you give us an example?"
"Certainly. For one; we have so many art museums in our communities. I believe you couldn't go anywhere without bumping into at least one. This—"
Smackle was interrupted by a commotion outside, and all of the students in the classroom grew quiet and tried to listen hard to what was going on. All it took was for them to hear the word rat, before they exploded themselves, and ran out of the room, screaming their heads off. Except for the small group of friends, and Mr. Matthews, naturally.
"My question is, why would they run towards the danger?" Smackle remarked. "Hmm, interesting experiment idea."
"It's just a rat," Lucas shrugged. "We saw those all the time in Texas."
"Not New York rats; they're everywhere." Farkle shuddered.
"What Farkle is attempting to tell you, is that our rats are pretty terrifying compared to your small town country rodents." Maya smirked.
"They're really, really big!" Riley added, with wide eyes.
"There can't be that much of a difference."
Lucas got up, and peeked out the door, frozen as a rat the size of a small cat scurried down the hallway.
"I stand corrected."
"Does nobody want to know how they got out in the first place?" Zay asked. "I mean, how random is that?"
"Here's an idea," Smackle made an attempt at sarcasm. "Why don't you ask Ms. Blue Hair?"
Maya crossed her arms and stood up.
"Here's another one; mind your own business!"
"Did you do it, Maya?" Farkle asked suspiciously.
"Maybe...And even if I did, what's the big deal? They're just rats," she responded indifferently.
"The big deal, Ms. Hart, is that you have created a problem." Mr. Matthews spoke up from his desk, where he had been watching their conversation. "You have disrupted classes, released rats into a school building, and now we have to round up all the students, calm them down, and try to make up for the loss of class time."
"I didn't say I did it!" Maya exclaimed. "And anyway, it's not my fault my classmates are all wimps."
"Okay, then let's assume for the moment that I'm an innocent bystander." Mr. Matthews began, much to Maya's irritation. "Why did your teacher have to escort you to class? Why were you late? What perhaps might you have been doing?"
"I'm telling you, I didn't do it." She insisted. "All of that doesn't have to be relevant, you know."
"Just cut it out now, okay? Maya, we all know it was you. We're not dumb." Lucas said sharply.
She gave a warning glance towards him, though not expecting that he would give her stare for stare. Maya was about to snap at Lucas, when the principal came storming down the hallway, and spotting the few students in a classroom, turned into the room.
"I'm surprised to see you in here," Mr. Douglas commented. "Everyone else is long gone."
"We are not fazed by some inferior species. We have chosen to stay in here, and display the calmness and intelligence demonstrated by a higher kind," Smackle spoke up, still standing in the same spot.
"There's that." Zay said, raising his eyebrows at her. "But, it was kinda' just like my apartment; we see rats all the time...there's this one rat—I named it Maya—that comes every day, and we always give it food."
"You named it Maya?" The girl narrowed her eyes at him.
"It seemed appropriate." Zay grinned. "Though now, I may have to dye it blue..."
Mr. Douglas cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your very interesting story, but if anyone knows how rats got into our building, please let me know. We need to make sure to set traps if they're getting in, or seal up the holes."
"Oh, we know." Farkle mumbled.
"How do you know?" The principal asked with interest.
"Maya did it! She's a bad, bad influence!" Riley blurted out.
"Riley!" Maya cried in exasperation.
"I'm no good for you if I can't be your good influence!" She explained.
"Ms. Hart. It's hasn't even been a day yet, and you're already causing problems? Obviously you haven't learned your lesson." Mr. Douglas shook his head.
"Okay, you know what?" Maya exclaimed, standing up on her desk to gather everyone's attention. "No one has any evidence. You can't blame me for this."
"Perhaps we're going off of past experiences." Smackle raised her eyebrows.
"Regardless, it would be nice to have my friends believe that I can do good things." She said pointedly.
"That's fair." Farkle admitted reluctantly.
"It is," Lucas agreed, folding his arms. "So, we'll give you a fair chance. Did you or did you not let the rats loose?"
Everyone looked at Maya, who rolled her eyes, and threw up her hands in defeat; not able to lie any longer. "Okay, fine, I may have let a few rats loose. But, no one got hurt, right?"
"Wrong, and I have already given reasons as to why there was damage done." Mr. Matthews reminded. "There will be consequences, Maya."
"Let me guess; I get suspended for a whole month this time?" Maya smirked.
"Oh, I have no intention of taking you away from learning." her principal spoke up with no trace of clemency in his grim face.
"What to do you mean?" She asked suspiciously.
"How do you feel about community service, Ms. Hart?" Mr. Douglas asked.