Author's Note: Hope you enjoy, and please don't forget to REVIEW! Thanks to those who have already followed, reviewed, and favorited this story! You guys make my day! :) (Edited by Chereche!)

Here it is guys! The chapter that you've all been waiting for...Also, you may have noticed I changed the genre from Humor to Hurt/Comfort-I felt like it was a little more appropriate.

UPDATED: 12/12/16

Disclaimer: I don't own Girl Meets World, just the story!

Chapter Thirteen: Getting Involved

"You're cheating," Lucas accused, thumbing through his cards.

"Nu-uh. You're just really bad at this," Maya denied.

She was leaning against the wall, her legs crossed, and her hair in a bun. Lucas was straight across from her, perching on the edge of her bed. She had been feeling better, now that her fever had gone down, but he still insisted on staying with her, so here they were.

"Then, explain to me how it's possible you got 6 pairs in a row," he crossed his arms.

"Magic, Ranger Rick," she waved her hands around in a dramatic gesture.

He snorted. "Oh, yes. The magic of cheating...such wonder and amazement."

"I excel in wonder and amazement," Maya said primly, drawing a card from the pile.

Lucas watched her handle the cards, and narrowed his eyes in suspicion as she smirked and found a card she was looking for in her hands.

"And, the lucky pair is...the 8 of clubs!" she exclaimed triumphantly, just before setting the match down on her thick pile.

"Unbelievable. You are unbelievable, Maya Penelope Hart." He shook his head in disbelief.

"Hey, don't just throw that name around," she warned, shuffling the deck. "You're going to regret the consequences if you do."

"Like you cheating in a game?"

She rolled her eyes, and was about to make some sarcastic reply, when her mother stuck her head in the door.

"Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I just needed to let you know our plans for Thanksgiving; since they're kind of last minute," she smiled.

"Isn't that like 2 months from now?" Maya asked.

"That's 2 days from now," Ms. Hart raised an eyebrow.

"Ugh, I hate Thanksgiving," she groaned, closing her eyes, and flopping back dramatically.

"Why? What's wrong with Thanksgiving, Shortstack?" Lucas questioned, looking down at her with curious eyes.

"It's so stereotypical...this perfect, happy family gathers around a big table loaded with homemade food and talks about how great their lives are. Such a wonderful holiday," she answered sarcastically.

"That's ridiculous, Maya."

"Hey, just because you think differently—"

Ms. Hart cleared her throat, and glared at her daughter.

"Anyway, I just thought you'd want to know that we're going to the Matthews' for dinner that night."

Maya opened one eye, which she fixed on her mother. "Don't we do that every year?"

"No, last year we went to your cousin's house in Brooklyn, and the year before that we went to aunt Rose's, and then—"

"Okay, I remember it all now!" Maya exclaimed.

"Good." She turned to Lucas. "How about you? Are you planning on spending Thanksgiving with your family?"

"Of course he is," she snorted.

He looked at her warily before speaking.

"Actually, no...my mama is working, and well, the rest of our family is in Texas. So, I'll probably just hang out at home, and watch some football," he shrugged.

"Oh, that's no fun." Ms. Hart put her hands on her hips. "Why don't you join us for dinner?"

"Uh, mom? Shouldn't you ask the Matthews' first?" Maya whispered, not so discreetly.

"I hate to agree with her, but she's right. I wouldn't want to intrude on you or their family, but thank you for the offer," Lucas said.

"No, no, no... I'm sure they'd be just fine with it! I can give them a call, if you'd like." Ms. Hart offered.

"You don't have to do that, ma'am." He shook his head, but she was already out the door, and calling the Matthews'.

Maya laughed. "And then there are times my mom actually does something."

"I really don't mind being alone that much," Lucas said to himself, fingering a card.

"Aw, Cowboy all alone...probably missing his cow friends and all the hoe-downs and cattle pageants." She clucked in mock disappointment.

"Please stop."

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Huckleberry. I'm just helping you reminisce the good old cattle days," she smirked.

"You are so—"

"Language, Cowboy." Maya smirked.

He threw up his hands in exasperation. "I wasn't even going to say anything!"

"M-hmm."

"I wasn't!"

She hummed, and continued to ignore his protests, as she finished shuffling the cards in her hands. Then, looking up at him, raised a questioning brow.

"What do you think, Huckleberry? Another round?"

"You're kidding right?" Lucas snorted.

"You're just afraid you're going to lose again." Maya inspected her fingernails.

He rolled his eyes. "No, I just don't want to play with a cheater."

"Hey, I'm not a cheater!" She glared at him, and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. "I'm an artist, so you have to give me respect! That means not calling me a cheater."

Much to her confusion, Lucas's amused expression turned hard and dark. She let go of his shirt, and leaned back a little.

"Hey, Ranger Rick. What's running through that Cowboy head of yours?"

He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the battle ahead. "I think we need to talk."

"Um, okay...spill." Maya said cautiously.

Lucas swiped her backpack from the ground, and rested it on top of her bed. He started rifling through it, but Maya snatched her bag away from him.

"What the heck are you doing, Sundance?!"

He easily grabbed it back, and brought out her empty spray paint can. Lucas watched her expression turn pale for an instant, just before she put up her walls, and donned her protective mask.

"Why are you going through my stuff?" She questioned, trying to sound fiercer than she felt.

"Maya, we need to talk about this." Lucas held up the can.

She started to speak, but he put up a hand to stop her.

"Please just hear me out, okay? So, I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but I've suspected for a while that you're doing things...like vandalism." He studied her face for any emotion. "And I saw your "Hope is for suckers" on the school wall, and on your art bin. So, I started to put two and two together, and it all adds up."

"You can't accuse me of something like that, Ranger Rick," she snarled, but her heart was thumping.

"I'm not..." He said slowly, calculating his next words carefully. "But, I'm willing to hear you out, if you'll just talk to me about some stuff."

"Like what?" she huffed, crossing her arms.

There was no way she was spilling her guts to Huckleberry. But, it would make things so much easier and—no, she had to stick with her secret for a little longer.

"Like if you had anything to do with our school's vandalism."

"I didn't do it, okay? And I thought I made it clear that—" Maya said angrily.

"Well, if you didn't do it, why don't you just say so?" Lucas was getting fed up with her.

She resisted the tempting urge to wring his neck, and chose to take the moment to calm herself down instead. As she studied him, her thoughts turned to ones of possibilities. If she told him, he might understand; after all he was still her friend, right? Or maybe he wasn't, and was just there because he pitied her. But, then why would he have helped her when she was sick?

Lucas could be her safe place; heaven knew she needed one. Besides Riley of course, but this was something she couldn't even tell her. Maya decided to address it in a moment, realizing Lucas was glaring daggers at her.

"Stop looking at me like that...You know what? Forget this. You want me to tell you things? Fine; I did it," she admitted, too irritated and confused to care anymore.

"What?" Lucas said, disappointment replacing his anger. He had already been almost one hundred percent sure that Maya had done it, but there was still that small chance she hadn't.

"There's more," Maya blurted without thinking it through, because now she was on a roll, and it was hard to stop.

"More?" he asked, his voice full of shock and surprise. She was opening herself up quicker than normal, and he wasn't complaining, but it made his nervous because it meant something serious was about to be said.

Inside, she was feeling the same way, and currently beating her stupid self up for making the second dumbest mistake of her life. Why the heck did she think it was a good idea to tell Ranger Rick about "The Project"? She had just been trying to convince herself not to! This was not going to end well if she couldn't wiggle her way out of the mess she had just created. But, she knew she couldn't; it was too late because no one can take back words.

"Talk to me, Maya." Lucas waved a hand in front of her face, but her brain was still focused on her inner turmoil.

On the other hand, she really wanted Lucas to know because she felt somehow that it would ease her guilty conscience, and someone besides Jazz's group would know. Maybe she could even convince "Moral Compass" to do it with her. Ha, yah right...But, for some other reason she really needed Lucas to know, and it was bugging her. Why did she have to care so much about what he thought about her?

"Maya!" His voice finally snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry." She lifted her gaze from her hands to his eyes. They were green. How had she never noticed that before?

"Okay, why don't you just tell me what's going on, because I'm really confused and worried," Lucas admitted.

She sighed and took a deep breath...she really was stupid.

"You know that news story on the art museum?"

He nodded, still puzzled. Maya licked her lips nervously; her heart beating a mile a minute and butterflies exploding in her stomach.

"I did that." She said so quietly, you would have only heard her if it was dead silent; which it was.

Time seemed to slow down, and everything seemed out of focus. Dumb, stupid, dead, reckless...her chest rose quickly, and her head was hot. Trash, not good enough, loser...her palms were sweaty and she couldn't move. Failure, lazy—okay, where was this all coming from? Maya took a deep breath and forced herself to stop hyperventilating.

It was all broken though by Lucas's nervous laugh.

"I don't think now is a good time for jokes, Shortstack. Can't we just talk about the whole vandalism thing? I'm going to listen to your side of the story too, don't worry."

"Lucas." She had his attention. "I'm not joking."

He froze, his eyes locked on her.

"What do you mean?"

Maya rolled her eyes. "I did it, okay? A little slow on the uptake aren't you, Huckleberry?"

"No names right now." He started to get angry. "You better be making this up...do you have any idea how serious this is?"

"Yes." Her face fell.

"What the hell, Maya?!" Lucas forced her head up.

She couldn't bring herself to jerk away from his grasp, the tension thick in the room.

"Don't curse, Sundance."

"Ha, you do it all the time." He laughed bitterly, fire in his eyes. "And now we're actually going to discuss this...you're absolutely telling me the truth? Youactually broke into a museum, vandalized paintings, and got away with it?"

"Yes," Maya replied flatly.

"Why?" Lucas shook his head in disbelief. "I can't even imagine why you would do something this stupid and dangerous. This is beyond some silly high school prank, Maya. You could get thrown in jail!"

"I know," she said simply.

Lucas rubbed his forehead, trying so hard to contain "Texas Lucas". He took long, deep breaths and focused on a spot on the back wall.

"Why?" He asked again.

"I don't know." She looked at the same spot. "It just happened."

"Who made you do it?"

"What do you mean? No one made me do it."

"There's no way you did this by yourself. You're many things, Maya, but this is beyond something even you would normally do...so, who was it?"

"Just some people I know."

He snorted in annoyance. "Gee, thanks for the answer...I'm not leaving until you give me all the information I need. You decided to tell me, so you need to realize that you have to deal with the consequences of that choice."

She didn't even try to fight back, or make some sarcastic remark. There was just no stamina left in her; and she felt weak and exposed and guilty. Though on the outside, she looked pretty tough to Lucas.

"My cousins, and some of their friends...they've been trying to get me to hang out with them for years, and one day I agreed. It kind of escalated from there, obviously."

"Okay, well at least it was only one time. We can probably get this all cleared up—" Lucas said slowly, trying to be reasonable, and not lash out at his friend.

She looked up at him. "It's not over."

His breath caught in his throat. "What do you mean?"

"They're planning this whole chain of destruction. From here all the way to this big museum, which will be our last stop. It's kind of a whole revenge story," she explained reluctantly. "Jazz's mom works at the last one, and she's trying to get back at her. It's a long story."

"Who's Jazz?" Lucas wrinkled his nose.

"My cousin...and the leader of the group," she said bitterly, trying to keep some disgust out of her voice. "Let's just leave it at that."

"So, why are you involved, if this is all about her?"

"Like I said; it kind of just happened."

Lucas couldn't keep his gaze off of Maya now, and he didn't even know how to process this information. I mean, what the heck do you do with something like that? Tell the police? His mom? Someone?! But, this was Maya...his friend. And he protected his friends, no matter the circumstances. Except there were always limits, and Lucas wasn't sure if he had reached that boundary yet or not.

Maya was watching him too, and she could tell he was struggling with the news. But, even though it didn't look good for her right now, she couldn't explain the odd sense of relief that filled her body. She never liked carrying secrets around, although she knew that she had more than she could count, and now she had just released a big one. It felt good.

"When is their next "attack"?" Lucas broke the silence.

"November 30th...so next week."

"Are you still going to go?"

She fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "Yah."

"Okay." He cleared his throat, and looked her dead in the eyes. "I'm going with you."

"Ha. That's cute, Huckleberry." Maya said with a small smile.

"I'm serious."

"You know you could get thrown in jail, right?" She threw his words back at him. "And besides, there's no reason for you to throw away your future. I've made a decision, and just because I decided to tell you about it, doesn't mean you need to make the same choice."

"I'm going to make sure you're safe," Lucas admitted. "And unless you change your mind, you can't convince me not to go."

"I don't need a bodyguard, Heehaw," she protested, throwing up her defense system. "I can handle myself just fine."

Lucas couldn't help but grin at the nickname, although it was a super tense and serious conversation they were having.

"You haven't called me that in a while."

"Get used to it. I'm bringing them all back slowly," Maya breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't let "Texas Lucas" escape, and they were going to be okay.

"Look," Lucas changed the subject again. "I can't understand what the heck is going on in your head, or why I'm stupid enough to go along with this, but I'm not going to be mad at you...I want to, but I can't. Even if this is the stupidest thing you have ever done."

"I know," she said, her voice solemn. "I've told myself that a million times."

He sighed. "I care about you Maya, and no matter what you do, I'm not going to leave you or hate you. Just remember that, okay?"

She nodded, and surprised herself when she leaned forward to give him a hug.

"I'll try," Maya said honestly.

Lucas stroked her hair in comfort, and sighed. "I'm your friend. That's what we do." He pulled apart to look at her directly. "But, don't think you're going to get out of this. I'm doing this one time, and then we need to do something about this "group". This is really serious."

She nodded, and regained some of her dignity. "Okay...but this is the only time you get to boss me around, got it?"

"I think I get to decide that, Shortstack," Lucas smirked.

"And why's that?"

"You're not tall enough to handle that kind of responsibility."

"Oh, yah? And who fought Missy Bradford, and won?" She challenged.

Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Technically neither of you won. And who got suspended after that fight, huh?"

"Shut up, Ranger Roy," she said.

"Oh, he's back now?"

"M-hmm."

They sat like that for a while, knees touching, and eyes on each other. The sun was setting, and it cast a calming golden light over everything.

"Maya," he spoke up, staring into her blue eyes. "Why did you tell me about all of this?"

She took a deep breath, and broke away from his gaze. "I was tired of carrying around so many secrets...just telling you one, feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. I don't feel half as guilty anymore. But, don't worry, I won't be telling you about anything else."

He grew suspicious. "Is there something else?"

She stiffened, her eyes turning sharp. "No." Maya lied. She was not going to tell him everything.

"Okay." Lucas wasn't stupid; he knew she was lying. But, he was going to let it go for now, because she wasn't ready, and Lucas wasn't going to push her any further.

"Hey, so they were fine with it, and—" Ms. Hart stepped into the room, and glanced in surprise at the two teenagers. Something had happened while she was gone.

"Great. I'll ask my mama," Lucas said quickly, scooting further away from Maya. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Of course." She narrowed her eyes at them, but decided to temporarily let it slide, whatever it was. "Do you want to stay for dinner tonight?"

"He would," Maya spoke up.

"I'm sure he can speak for himself, baby girl," she smiled.

"I'll have to check, but I'm sure that would be fine," Lucas grinned at Maya.

"Wonderful...it should be ready in 20 minutes or so, if you're staying," Ms. Hart said. "I'll be out there if you need me, okay?"

"Thanks mom," Her daughter said.

After she left, Lucas turned to the small girl.

"I guess you do enjoy my company, Clutterbucket."

"Shut up."

Then, he gave her a sudden hug which she returned with surprise.

"What's this for?" she asked in confusion.

"It's going to be okay," he said softly.

Maya closed her eyes, and let herself get temporarily lost in the warm, rare feelings of comfort and love. It felt good, definitely. But all good couldn't last forever...that was a life lesson right there.