Author's Note: Thank you to those who have already followed, favorited, and reviewed this story! It means a lot to have all of this support! Please don't forget to REVIEW, and enjoy! (Edited by Chereche!)

And if any of you are interested, I recently published a Girl Meets World one-shot and it'd be awesome if you'd go check it out! Thanks! ;)

UPDATED: 1-4-17

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

Chapter Nineteen: Twists and Turns

Riley had moved out of the crying stage. She was now sitting on the couch, staring blankly at her beige wall...what stage was that? The loneliness, fear, and anxiety stage? It didn't matter, because she knew that whatever it was it was all her fault. She had chased Maya away and been a terrible friend in general.

Mrs. Matthews entered the room with a candle and a lighter, and spotted her slumped daughter easily. Her mother sighed and sat next to her, pulling her close.

"Hey, honey. How you doing?"

"Where is she, mom?" Riley's focus was nowhere but Maya.

"I don't know," Mrs. Matthews stroked her hair comfortingly.

"This is all my fault."

"It's no one's fault, Riley."

She glanced from her mother's eyes, to the candle in her hands. "Why is there a candle? Will it help Maya?"

The older woman smiled. "No, but it might help us a little bit. It's cinnamon."

Riley took the lighter from her hands and proceeded to light the candle. Whenever they had a tough situation going on, they always lit this scent because it was so calming. It brought back happy memories of Christmases, family game nights, and dinners. And sometimes it did help, but Riley doubted it would ease the worry much, if at all. Because this time, the concern had something to do with Maya and when that happened nothing else mattered.

They nestled back into the couch and each other, watching the little flame dance around. It was mesmerizing and if there hadn't been a dark cloud looming over everything, the whole scene would've been perfectly picturesque. It was softly snowing outside, the lights were low, everything was cozy and warm, and the candle added the beautiful quality to the landscape. A wonderful, happy December evening...except it wasn't. And it wouldn't be until Maya was back.

Ms. Hart came into the scene with a cup of tea and red rimmed eyes. Crossing over to the couch, she joined the two women and snuggled into a pillow. The Matthews' didn't say anything and neither did the new arrival. There was nothing to say. So, the silence was filled by the occasional rustlings of the girls and the slow ticking of the clock. The clock itself was almost like a deadly countdown to some horrible event that awaited them. The only question was how long.

The answer? Not long. A knock came from the door and all three perked up their heads, although only Mrs. Matthews got up to answer it. And in that moment there was hope. Maya may not have discovered hers yet, but they sure had and they clung to it with all their might.

She opened the door to reveal a young police officer with a tired, reluctant Maya in tow. They were quickly ushered inside, but no one dared make the first sound or move. Except for the cop, who was obligated to do so.

"I found her on the corner of Mill and 45th, down by that public park. She put up a fight, but I got her here," he spoke up, nudging said girl forward. "As long as there aren't any questions, I'll just leave you folks to it."

"Thank you, officer," Mrs. Matthews acknowledged, her concerned eyes on Maya.

"My pleasure." He nodded to all the women, then walked back out the door, closing it gently behind him. He really wanted to wish that girl good luck, but it wasn't really allowed.

"Peaches," Riley said softly, getting up slowly.

She stared blankly at each person in turn, her gaze resting on her mother.

"I thought you were in Maine."

"I came back as soon as I heard you were missing, Baby girl," she said softly.

"You didn't have to. I was perfectly fine." Maya crossed her arms.

"Of course I did! You're my daughter!" Ms. Hart exclaimed. "And if you're going to get angry at me, well I have every right to return the favor! For heaven's sake Maya, what were you thinking? You scared everyone so much. Where were you?"

"Just taking a walk."

"You were gone for over 24 hours!"

Just then another figure appeared in the doorway of the living room, excitement on its face.

"Is she back?!" Auggie's little voice shrieked as he ran to Maya.

Her face softened and she picked him up, a cute sight as she was so short.

"Miss me?"

"No." Auggie suddenly remembered he wasn't supposed to care. He was a boy, after all.

"Aw, well I missed you." Maya set him down. "You're the only one who cares, huh?"

"Maya!" Riley exclaimed.

"Honey, why don't you sit down, okay?" Mrs. Matthews put her hands on her shoulders and guided her to a seat between Riley and her mother.

"Maya, of course we care." Her best friend turned to her. "How could you think we don't?"

"Okay, Riley. One thing at a time...we need to start from the beginning first." Mrs. Matthews looked at her honorary daughter. "Sweetie, why did you leave, and where did you go?"

Maya knew there was no getting out of this conversation, no matter how hard she resisted. So, why try to lie and be completely stubborn about it?

"I went to the park, and accidentally fell asleep...then I woke up, and just hung around the city for a little while," she answered, crossing her arms. "That's it."

"So, you fell asleep, and when you woke up you didn't head home?!" Ms. Hart cried.

"No," she shrugged.

"Didn't you think everyone would be worried about you?"

"I don't know."

"How could you not—" Riley started.

"Honey," her mother reminded gently.

The brunette let out a sigh of frustration, but conceded. All she wanted to do was help Maya and fix the annoying tension that lay between them. They were always able to repair any damage made and this rift had seemed to last forever...and so had the damage. When was she going to get the chance to sit her best friend in the window and solve all the puzzles they had created?

"...and I had to come all the way home!" Ms. Hart broke into her inner turmoil.

"Oh, well I'm so sorry I'm such a burden to you!" Maya snapped.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Really? Cause' that's exactly what it sounded like to me."

"Why are you being so difficult?" her mother groaned in exasperation.

"I apologize for the inconvenience." Maya gave a mock bow from her seat. "But, it will go a lot faster if you just give me my punishment and we move on. So, let's hear it."

Her mother shook her head. "I can't believe you right now. You're being so selfish: I was worried sick about you! I came back to make sure you were okay, to look for you if necessary! Why are you doing this Maya? And if you can't answer that, can you at least answer the questions we already gave you? Why did you leave?"

Maya considered her and answered as vaguely as possible. "I guess because I was done dealing with Ms. Candy Cane over here."

Riley's face fell and she twisted her hands together tightly. A curtain of brown hair fell in front of her face and she didn't brush it away, instead letting it obscure her hurt expression. She had to keep telling herself that she could fix it, that it would be okay in the end...she shouldn't worry. Maya didn't mean a thing she was saying, she was just upset. So, Riley let it go—for now.

"What happened right before you left?" Ms. Hart asked curiously.

"Mom, can we please not do this right now? I'm really tired," she said slowly and cautiously.

Her mother observed her worn and pale face, and her instincts kicked in.

"Okay, but you know this isn't over, right?"

"Yah, I get it." Maya replied, rubbing her forehead.

"Well, I guess I'll just take her home then." Ms. Hart said to the Matthews' women with a sigh.

"Good night." Mrs. Matthews said warmly, but with an air of concern. "We look forward to seeing you soon."

"Wait, Peaches." Riley walked over to her friend. "We need to talk, don't we?"

"Another time, Riles." Maya bit her lip and turned around, heading for the door.

This was turning out to be a long argument...too long for Riley's taste.

She stood in front of the mirror, doing her daily inspection. It didn't look too bad: her heels were nice and tall, her ripped jeans snug, her blouse perfect, and—no those definitely had to go. Looking around her room, Maya searched for the object, moving aside piles of random junk. Eventually finding it beneath a pile of crumpled papers, she grabbed it and crossed back over to the mirror. She winced as she prepared herself for the painful experience she was about to inflict upon herself. Bringing the pliers to her mouth, she started to close it around her braces, when a knock came from her window. Letting out a yelp, Maya dropped the tool on her foot.

"What the heck, Huckleberry?!" she yelled.

"Sorry," Lucas grimaced from behind the glass.

Limping over to him, she opened the window and growled. "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you."

"About what? You do remember I'm not really allowed to see anyone right? And you do realize we have a front door?"

"Yah, that's why I came in through your window," he smiled and hopped into her room.

"Ugh, whatever. Why are you here, then?" Maya rolled her eyes and rubbed her sore foot.

"I wanted to apologize."

"Really." She raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Yes," he answered cautiously. "Look, I'm not saying I believe all of my actions were wrong, but I am sorry for pushing you too much. I don't know what I said to make you do what you did, though."

"Do what?"

"The whole thing with the painting."

"Oh." Maya's face grew unreadable. "Well, to ease your suffering Ranger Rick, you didn't say anything."

"Then why—"

"Did you come here to apologize, or make it worse?" she interrupted.

"Right, sorry." Lucas sighed. "Okay, I'll try not to push you as much anymore. But, that doesn't mean I won't when I think it's necessary...you're my friend and if I see that you need that extra shove, I will oblige."

"Fine." Maya walked back over to the pliers on the ground and picked them up.

"What were you doing, Shortstack?" he asked, walking over to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Uh, when I knocked, you were holding a sharp object to your face." Lucas pointed at the tool.

How do you answer that?

"Uh, I was just inspecting it to make sure they were pliers." Maya winced. "I'm not very good with tools, you know."

"It was in your mouth."

She narrowed her eyes. "Fine. I was trying to get rid of my stupid braces! Happy?"

"That was stupid." Lucas snatched the pliers out of her hand.

"Why?" she asked defensively.

"Because you could have really messed things up, not to mention you would be wasting a lot of money!"

"What do you mean a lot of money?"

Lucas shook his head. "Do you have any idea how much braces cost?"

"Not really." Maya shrugged indifferently. "But, it can't be that much."

"Um, try something like 5,000 dollars," Lucas challenged. "And really it can be anywhere between 3 and 7 thousand."

"What?" Her eyebrows practically shot off of her forehead.

"Yes, now will you stop making dumb mistakes?"

Maya ignored him and started for her door. "My mom should never have paid that much for them. How did she even pay for them? I need to go talk to her."

Lucas walked in front of her and blocked the door.

"Just accept the gift, Clutterbucket. Your mom was doing something nice for you."

"Oh, really nice gift," she said sarcastically, crossing her arms. "And I can talk to my mom if I want, Huckleberry."

"Why can't you realize that people just want to do nice things for you? Even if it costs them," he sighed.

"I do know that and I just want her to know she doesn't need to pay for things like this!" Maya gave up trying to get past Sundance and instead flopped onto her bed. "She has enough things to worry about as it is."

Lucas gingerly sat on the edge of her bed, trying not to sit on her legs.

"Yes, but everyone has things to worry about. It doesn't mean they still can't do things for people, it just might mean that it's a little harder. Nothing wrong with that."

"Ugh." The blue haired girl rested her hand on her forehead. "You're so annoying."

"Only for you, ma'am." He tipped his imaginary hat.

"You're such a Huckleberry."

Maya sighed and offered him a small smile. He grinned back and they sat like that, staring at each other in silence. They seemed to do this often and it was a comfortable quiet that couldn't be found with others.

She allowed herself to think about Lucas, but just this once. Remembering the Halloween dance, she played the scene in her head. That night, she hadn't felt insecure, especially around Lucas...did she still feel that way? Cocking her head at his light green eyes, she decided she didn't quite feel the same anymore. Oh, she still liked him and she was still going to hide it, but something felt different now. She wasn't sure it was their friendship or her who had changed...Maya certainly didn't feel as insecure around him, but that was probably because he was her friend. She still felt that emotion though and again, it was a far cry from 2 months ago. Maya still felt insecure and she knew that no one could fix it, and she hated it. She seemed to hate a lot of things lately.

Lucas fixed his eyes on her baby blue ones and contemplated the small girl in front of him. She seemed to be lost in thought, but her gaze was directly on him as well. It didn't seem like she was going to speak anytime soon, so he allowed his mind to wander wherever it decided to take him. How did he feel about Maya, really? He didn't know and it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Who knew how they felt about things at their age? But, what he did know was there was some connection between them, be it bad, good, platonic—

"You know my mom's going to come in here and kick both of our butts, right?" Maya spoke up suddenly.

He laughed. "Yah, I guess that's true."

"Okay, then goodbye now." She pulled him up by his shirt collar and dragged him over to the window.

Lucas obliged and started to climb out the window, before stopping and facing the small girl.

"When are you going again?" he asked quietly.

Her face darkened. "I'm not sure yet. But, you're not going."

"Why, Maya?"

"Because you're our "Moral Compass", and I'm not going to ruin your life too." Maya tried to push the rest of him out onto the fire escape.

"You're not ruining my life." Lucas stood planted where he was.

"Yes, I am. Now go!"

He grabbed her wrists. "Why do you think that?"

"I already told you! Jeez, you're dense, Ranger Rick!"

"I'm not as perfect as everyone seems, Shortstack."

"I know that," Maya sighed. "So, I certainly don't need to make it worse...can you please just leave?"

"No, I don't want you to think you're ruining my life," Lucas insisted.

"Okay, fine. I'm not ruining your life," she rolled her eyes.

He snorted. "Oh, that's sincere."

"What do you want to hear? I'm messing up everyone's else's lives, too?" Maya's eyes grew dangerous. "Cause' that way you don't feel alone, don't worry, it's not just you."

"Maya—" Lucas furrowed his brow.

"Just stop." She held up a hand and ran her fingers through her hair. "There's no point to this conversation."

"Yes, there is and if you tell me to go one more—"

She put a hand over his mouth and raised a thick eyebrow.

"Shut up. I will call my mom."

Lucas raised his hands and finished climbing out of the window. He leaned his head back in before she could close it and made sure Maya was looking at him.

"You know this isn't over, right?"

"Why not, Heehaw?" She tapped her foot.

"Because I know you "ran away". I know about the art museums. I know you're insecure. I know you and Riley are in a fight. And most importantly, I know you're not okay." He gave her stare for stare. "I'll see you later, Shortstack."

He turned and made his way down to the sidewalk below, leaving behind a very confused Maya. Both of them had no idea what was going to happen next.

"Why is it we always run into each other?" Maya growled, picking up her coffee cup. "Literally?"

"You tell me, Hart," Jazz smirked.

Maya groaned at the spilled drink all over the sidewalk and mourned the loss of her morning coffee. She hadn't even gotten a sip, yet.

"Okay, well now you owe me a drink."

"Some other time. I'm in a hurry." Her cousin leaned against the brick wall, watching the younger girl dab away a spot on her shirt.

"Then why are you wasting time talking to me, huh?"

"Cause' we need to discuss our next...escapade," she grinned. "How does the 17th sound?"

Maya straightened. "Do you ever, I don't know, second guess this whole thing?"

"Are you getting cold feet, Hart?" Jazz's voice lowered.

"No," she immediately retorted. "But, this could have serious consequences."

"Who you been talking to, huh?" the taller girl snorted.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You sound different...and not in a good way."

"I'm still going, okay? Lay off, I'm just saying."

"Good, there's no problem then," Jazz smiled. "I'll see you next week."

Maya watched her cousin stride down the sidewalk purposefully, before returning to gathering her things and heading in the opposite direction. Oh, boy was she in a deep hole. The worst thing about it was there was no escape and she knew it.

It was noon and it was pretty nice for winter in New York. So, Maya wasn't wearing quite as many layers today...at least on her body. On her face, there was just as many additions to her natural beauty as usual. She could tell people noticed her and at some points she really liked the attention. Craved it too, some days. It meant she was good enough for everyone and she didn't have to pretend in front of them.

Except, she was—NO. That was just Riley talking, she was just changing and this was her now. She wasn't pretending and the girl clicking down the sidewalk was her completely. No doubts, no worries, no insecurities.

"Are you Maya Hart?"

She turned her head towards the sound of the unfamiliar voice. It belonged to a younger girl, probably around 5 or 6, and she was straining against the hand of an apologetic woman.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" she tried to smile sweetly.

"No, she just thought you looked like someone she saw before," the woman smiled back, gripping the little girl's hand tighter. "I apologize."

"Well, it just so happens, she's right," Maya admitted. "Where did she see me?"

The girl grinned widely and managed to rip her hand free of the older woman's.

"In a picture."

"Oh, where?" She furrowed her brow.

The woman now had a thoughtful expression on her face and was studying Maya with interest.

"On my daddy's desk. He said some day I might be able to meet you and that you were my sister."

Her breath caught in her throat and she had to steady herself on a nearby lamp post.

"I'm sorry, did you say sister?" Maya tried to calm her beating heart and flushed face.

"Yes!" The little girl clasped her hands together happily. "I've never had a sister before and now that I've met you, we can play together!"

Maya turned to the older woman.

"Who's your husband?" she asked fearfully, trying to hide the emotion behind her mask.

She pursed her lips. "Kermit...I think I've said enough, huh?"

"I'm really sorry, I just—"

"I understand, sweetheart. We'll just leave you to it." She gave her a sympathetic look. "Come on, Hope. We need to go now."

"I don't want to!" Hope pouted, popping out her bottom lip. "I want to talk with Maya."

"Tell you what, I'll give her our phone number and she can call us if she wants." Her mother looked questioningly up at the blue haired girl. "If that's okay with you?"

"That's fine," she managed to get out.

"Yay!" Hope cried, reminding her of Riley.

"Okay, here you go, honey." The woman handed her a slip of paper she had quickly scribbled on. "Don't feel like you're obligated to call us though, okay?"

"Thanks," Maya whispered.

She gave her another pitying look and grabbed Hope's hand again, walking towards a clothing store.

"Bye, Maya!" The little girl waved.

She gave her a wave in return and watched their retreating forms. Collapsing on a nearby bench, she stared straight ahead at nothing, while thoughts ran rampant through her brain.

Maya had closed that chapter in her life already and she had no desire to reopen it. Those two had no idea what impression and emotion they had just left on her, but it wasn't a good one. At this point she just needed to move, or she was going to cry, scream, or punch the concrete wall behind her. None of them seemed like good options, so she forced herself to get up and start walking.

And she didn't care where she was going... just anywhere and as long as it was away.