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A HUGE, HUGE, HUGE thanks to the last guest who reviewed and thefoxdrinksalone, because without you two I wouldn't have written this chapter! I got onto my email, saw your reviews and simultaneously had my heart melted. Then, I went immediately to my word document and began to write this chapter for 2 hours. I so, so appreciate the inspiration and confidence booster I needed so this chapter could be written!

And this isn't to say of course that anybody's else's reviews weren't equally as effective or heart warming, because I can definitely say your confidence and support in me has helped me to write many a chapter! Love all of my readers, please continue the awesome support and enjoy Chapter 32 of Behind the Mask! :)

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

Chapter Thirty-Two: Disclosures of Reluctance

"What's wrong, Riley?" Auggie asked, hopping into a seat.

"Nothing." She smiled sadly and handed him a green crayon.

"Thanks." He grabbed a sheet of paper and joined his sister in her coloring efforts. "Look, I may only be this many, but I know when you're upset." Auggie held up six consecutive fingers proudly as he stated this fact.

"And how did you get to be so smart?"

"I go to school, remember?"

She laughed, and finished her picture of a daisy. "Good answer."

"So...?"

"What?"

Auggie huffed, and folded his arms adorably. "Are you going to tell me or what?"

"Or what." Riley played with the ends of her hair before picking up her pictures and putting them into a pile neatly.

"Nuh-uh, you're not getting away that easily!" He got up and grabbed her sleeve, dragging her over to their couch.

"Auggie, I don't think I need to talk to you about this," she said carefully, pulling him into her lap.

"Why not? I give out good advice!"

Riley hugged him tightly. "I'm sure you do, but this is—teenager stuff."

"I'll be a teenager someday," Auggie pointed out.

"Yes, but you're not one right now. Look, buddy, I love you but I don't want to share every little thing with you."

"I guess that makes sense, everyone has secrets."

"Exactly." Riley smiled, clearly relieved.

"But I like knowing secrets," he continued with a cute grin.

"Auggie baby, why don't you leave your sister alone." Her mother came in with a sympathetic smile and opened her arms to him.

He reluctantly slid off from Riley's lap and trudged over to his mother.

"But I want to know what's wrong with Riley!"

"And if she wants to tell you she will, but you got to respect her privacy, baby." She scrunched her nose and gave him a tight hug.

"Okay," he relented and glancing once more at Riley, he headed silently down the hall to his bedroom.

"So," Her mom smiled and walked over to her daughter. "You want to talk to someone who's not shorter than 4 feet?"

Riley laughed lightly. "I guess."

"Is it about Maya, sweetie?" She sat down and looked concernedly at her.

"Isn't it always?"

"Did you two get in another fight?"

"Yeah."

"I don't understand. You have always made up so quickly and now this is the 3rd or 4th big fight you've had in the last couple of months." The older woman sighed.

They sat in silence for a minute, before Riley looked up from her hands and spoke up.

"Mom?"

"M-hmm?" She stroked her hair.

"When you were growing up, did you ever have a friend that you thought you'd know for the rest of your life and then one day you noticed she was gone? Like she had just slowly faded out of sight and you didn't even realize it until it was too late?"

"I don't think Maya has disappeared yet," her mother answered softly.

"Yet," Riley repeated pointedly.

Her mother let out a breath and pondered the question. "Yes, I think I did. It was around the beginning of high school and I was trying out new clubs and meeting new people—and then Sophomore year came around and I was sitting in class, thinking about homework. Then, all of a sudden, my old friend popped up in my head and I suddenly felt so lost and confused. When had she disappeared? We had always promised to be friends no matter what."

Riley furrowed her brow, and tucked her knees to her chest.

"But, it was okay," her mother continued comfortingly. "Because even if she isn't in my life today, she impacted me somehow and I'm glad I got to know her. In fact, without her I probably never would have met some of the people I did, or have become who I am today."

"That makes sense, it's just..." the younger brunette faded out sadly.

"It's just what?" her mother asked gently.

"I don't want to lose Maya. I've known her for so long and she makes me a better person! How could I just let her fade away? How have I let her drift as far as she is now?" she blurted. "This scares me so much! Since the start of 9th grade, all this new high school experience has proven is how fragile our friendship is! It shouldn't be fragile and I never saw it that way, mom!"

"Honey, I'm not saying you're going to lose Maya, that's not what I'm saying at all. What I want you to realize though, is that you need to figure out where the both of you are in your life and what the best thing for your friendship right now is. Is it better to leave her alone, or do you think you should confront her?"

Riley grimaced. "I've tried both and each has ended in disaster."

They both sighed and her mother tried to continue the conversation, although neither really knew how to continue. "Do you think maybe it's time now?"

"Time for what?" She twisted in her mother's embrace and looked up.

"To let adults get involved," her father spoke up, walking slowly into the living room. "Sorry, I couldn't help overhearing."

"You mean you were snooping," Riley accused.

"Tomato—tomahto." He waved her off and then crossed to the couch to sit beside the two.

"As to your question," the girl shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" He squinted at her in interest.

"It just means things get super complicated, that they are complicated." She twirled her ring on her finger. "And I mean, it's not that bad, right?"

"Why are you asking us, Riley? Only you can answer that question and what you've said so far implicates that there is a big problem here," Her mother answered gently.

"I—I just don't want to lose her. Or let her lose herself."

"Look, we both know you guys have tried to help her out, but that's obviously not worked out for you or Maya," her father said slowly. "So, maybe it's time to take this seriously."

"We have been taking this seriously," Riley retorted, sounding a little offended.

"Maybe, but do you think the whole talking about how to help her has caused more problems or has really helped?"

Riley bit her lip. "Okay, maybe you're right, but Maya doesn't want help anyway and she won't accept help from us, let alone you guys. All I really know is she's dealing with normal stuff, so why is it such a big deal? Like honestly, I'm asking myself too. Why is it changing her so much?"

"Because I'm guessing there's more behind what you actually see." Her mother took her hand.

"Then what do we do?"

"Well, I've talked to Maya briefly and I've gotten a grasp on some of what she's feeling, but I think it's time you talk. About the stuff we don't see, what we don't know," she said.

Riley looked between her two parents and thought about the situation. What did Maya really need? What was going to help her best friend?

"Okay." The girl sighed. "What you need to know is that it all started in September and I'm going to need a plane ticket to Texas."

Her parents eyed her curiously at her last statement. They were very eager to know the reason for that expensive request.

Maya slowly and stupidly banged her head repeatedly on a hard, wooden desk. She was alone in her English classroom with the faint noises from the cafeteria drifting through the hallways and the warm but rare late February sunlight beating down on her back. Her blonde hair hung loosely around her slumped shoulders and her suede boots beat in time with her repetitive head banging.

She figured Lucas would be heading out soon to find her, but for the present she had this time to herself. Her absence from lunch would not go unnoticed, especially after the whole argument she had just had with Riley in the hallway before their free period. Well, it was more of Maya giving Riley the cold shoulder than an actual argument, if she was to be honest with herself. Her brunette friend had been pleading with her and she had brushed her off. Like she didn't care. Like she didn't know her. Like she wasn't her best friend.

Oh, Maya felt guilty, the weight of it resting on her shoulders alerted her to that fact. But she wasn't ready to confront her friends, especially since she absolutely knew they would attempt to bring up the topic of herself and her "problems". She was just tired, like she always was. Tired of being tossed and turned like an article of clothing in a washing machine, which was a metaphor she had already compared herself to. Maya was however convinced that she was steadily getting better, due to her increase in artistic ability as of late. If she had just one or two steady, dependable things situated in her life, she was certain she could continue her ascent to positive actions and feelings soon enough.

Just as she was contemplating this last notion, she sensed a body behind her and she heard the light tread of sneakers hitting the linoleum.

"You know you don't have to feel so responsible for me, Huckleberry." The blonde bit her raw lip, not even bothering to turn around in her desk to meet her friend's eyes. "I'm a big girl and you don't need to come running after me each time something like this happens, okay?"

"Maya, I'm just being a good friend. I care about you." Lucas furrowed his brow and contemplated the back of her head as it continued to move up and down. "Stop doing that," he finally muttered, grabbing her head and twisting it back towards his stern face. "You look like you have a mental disorder."

"Not saying that I don't," Maya attempted a joke, but Lucas didn't find it funny.

Releasing her face, he slumped back in the uncomfortable plastic seat. "Want to talk about it?"

"Nope."

"Are you okay?"

"Of course," she scoffed, picking at her fingernails absentmindedly, only then noticing her fingers slight shaking, which caused an annoyed scowl to flit onto her face. Dropping her hand, she rested her arms on Lucas's desk. "You can go back to lunch now," she reminded.

"I know, but I want to talk to you," Lucas said simply.

"I don't need you to look after me."

"I care about you, Maya."

"Blah, blah, blah. You've said that before," she huffed, automatically pulling out her phone from her pocket, no longer interested in the mindless banter they so often had.

"I mean it. Why won't you listen?"

Maya shook her head and flipped aimlessly through her message notifications. A small buzz notified her of an incoming text and so she clicked on it quickly, hoping Lucas would get frustrated with her and just leave.

"Maya!" He snapped a finger in front of her face. "I've been super patient and honestly really nice, but with what happened today and what you've started to admit. What you've said recently," Lucas trailed off and took his eyes off of Maya temporarily, completely caught up in his confusion and musings.

"I told you, I'm fine and am just working on getting better." She scanned her new text message as her heart sank. She quickly tilted the phone screen away from Lucas, but it didn't matter as he wasn't even paying her that much attention at the moment.

X: I don't understand you—nobody does either. One minute you're trying to hide and the next you're back to being "the rebel, over confident, Maya Hart" who gets on everyone's nerves. Could you go back to being invisible now? It's a way better look on you than the one you try to flaunt. Speaking of which, what's up with the 2 inch heels? Are you trying to look short? And those braces—ew, they make your whole face look uglier than usual. Have you heard of makeup? Heck, has any of your loser friends heard of that stuff? You all need it, just as much as you need a reality check. Yeah, I've seen you hanging around people like you belong, like you're not some worthless freak who doesn't deserve them, that you don't have a terrible home. Way to keep up the illusion—not. You're not fooling anyone, including me and including your so called friends.

Maya chewed on her lip. At this rate she was going to create a scar on the inside of her mouth if she didn't stop her nervous habit, due to the fact that she most likely bit her lip more than ten times a day.

Lucas turned back to her a couple seconds later, when he noticed her form bent protectively over her phone, causing a stab of irritation to make its way into his heart. "What are you looking at? It's really frustrating when I'm trying to talk to you." Lucas sighed in exasperation, reaching for her phone.

"No!" she shrieked, sliding far away from him.

He recoiled and looked at her suspiciously. "What are you hiding?" Lucas asked.

"Nothing," Maya mumbled, trying desperately to delete the message. Why wasn't the button working?

"Liar."

"Stop calling me that!" The blonde whipped her head up, momentarily giving Lucas an advantage to gain her phone.

"Thank you!" he announced, delicately snatching it from her hands.

"No, Lucas, please don't," Maya pleaded, her face unusually pale. Who knew how he would react to this?

That only convinced him that whatever was on her phone needed to be seen. Lucas clicked on the open tab and cocked his head as he read through the message. As he scanned the words, his face darkened and he clenched his teeth. No way was this happening right now.

"Maya," he seethed, gritting his teeth as he finished reading the text message.

"Please don't do anything," she gulped, inching away from him. "I don't want you to ruin your image, okay?"

"How long has this been going on?" Lucas ignored her pleading.

To lie or not to lie, that is the question. Maya silently prayed that the bell would ring and she would be set free from this complicated web. Ring. Ring. Ring—

"Maya!" The boy turned her to look at him. "I am not letting you leave without answering me. How long?"

"Since summer," she mumbled this softly, looking down at her jeans.

Lucas drummed on his leg. "What? Speak up, please."

"Last summer, Lucas." She lifted her head and stared directly into his green eyes before losing her confidence and bowing it down once again over her lap.

"Why? Why didn't you tell somebody, Maya?" Lucas roughly raised her chin again and what she saw this time scared her. Not necessarily in a bad way, but in the sense that there was too much concern and worry in his eyes. She didn't want him to care this much, it was too puzzling to believe that a boy could possibly harbor such worry over her.

"It's not that big of a deal."

"Don't feed me that." The boy shook his head. "Do you know how much this has probably affected you? How much it has contributed to what's going on with you right now?"

"This is a completely different issue, Lucas. I can deal just fine with these stupid texts, they don't affect me in any way." Maya gently took her phone back and tried to ignore his eyes boring into her head.

"You're tough, Maya Hart." She looked away. "But you're not that tough." Lucas got up and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"What does that mean? Where the heck are you going?" Maya shot up out of her seat.

"The bell's about to ring," he answered simply.

"That's it? You're not going to ask who's sending these?" The small girl folded her arms and waited for the catch to be announced.

"Nope."

"Why not?" she called as he started walking out of the door and down the hallway.

"Because you don't know either," Lucas commented over his shoulder, hiding his anger effectively for those who didn't know him well. Maya however saw the clenched fists, the locked jaw, and the almost arrogant lift of his shoulders. Those weren't good signs.

"Don't do anything!" she yelled, just as the bell rang loudly. It automatically drowned out her words and any ridiculous hope she had of reaching Lucas. Maya just felt more sick to her stomach than before.

"The event is on March 16th," Lucas stated, plunking down his untouched cup. "Who can go?"

"I can," Farkle said slowly, eyeing his friend with confusion and concern. Since they had met up today, Lucas had been cold, sullen, and almost scarily oblivious to the rest of the world's comings and goings. He was so caught up in some fantasy, that his eyes would momentarily become glassy and he would stare off at a wall for ten minutes before Riley would call him back. To put it lightly, Lucas Friar wasn't acting normal and they certainly couldn't have that along with an abnormal Maya.

"You already know I can," Zay remarked, also watching his friend's odd aloofness with anxiety.

Riley sipped her milkshake, tasting the tang of strawberries, but not really relishing in its sweetness. "I can go if I give up my allowance for a couple of months, which of course is fine with me. It is a lot of money to spend."

"Good." Lucas looked immensely relieved as he sank into the couch. "I still haven't heard back from Maya's mom, but she did say that she was pretty confident that she could procure some money soon."

"Lucas." Farkle couldn't stand it anymore and so he groaned as he rested his elbows on his knees.

"What?" He looked slightly startled at the sound of his name being thrown to the cold and tense atmosphere surrounding them.

"What in the world is going on? What happened?"

Lucas closed his eyes briefly. Boy, that little guy was perceptive. Of course, Farkle would be able to tell something was wrong, Lucas had never been good at hiding this specific emotion.

His dilemma with this situation was whether or not he should actually disclose the information he had just gained earlier this morning. Would it make things worse? Would his friends attempt to solve it, much like he was tempted to do all through the rest of his classes? Or would they back off if he convinced them to do so? Because if they got it into their heads that they needed to avenge their darling Maya, not only would it potentially further damage their friendship with said girl, it would only pile on another thing to deal with. That and the fact that once Riley had a goal or an idea, she was like a dog with a bone and don't you dare and try take it away from her.

"Lucas!" Riley was shouting now and drawing unwanted attention from fellow customers, including a warning glare from her mother who was now watching them warily.

"Sorry," he mumbled, looking down at his hands. "So, when do you want to ask Maya about the Texas trip? We have to decide this week or next."

"Lucas Friar," Zay was surprisingly the one who voiced this firm comment. "You better tell us what the hell is going on, because you're starting to scare me. How bad is it?"

"Language, Zay," Riley reprimanded half-heartedly, though only staring at Lucas.

The conflicted blond groaned and ran a nervous hand through his hair, making a bold decision with said action. "Okay, if I tell you, none of this comes back to Maya. We do not discuss it, we do not take any action regarding it, we do not speak of it to adults. Got it?" The other three nodded their heads tentatively, their concern only growing with his ambiguous sentence. Lucas took a deep breath and went for the kill. "Maya's being bullied."

Riley's hand went to her small mouth, while Farkle and Zay's equally astonished reactions took more time to register. But, their shock and immense melancholy was displayed evidently on their drawn, angry faces.

"Please tell me that's a joke," Riley whispered, not believing her own question. Lucas just shook his head, his throat dry and clogged up for unknown reasons. "Then you're telling us we can't do anything about it? Are you kidding me?" She stood up and crossed over to Lucas's seat, searching his eyes with an intense perusal that startled even him. "And who is doing it? Have they hurt her? How long has it been going on?"

"I don't know, I desperately hope not—for their sake." Here Lucas clenched his jaw and took a deep breath. "And she said it had been going on since last summer."

"Right before September," Farkle muttered in disbelief. "How could she not tell us?"

"You didn't tell us about the bullying," Riley turned towards him with a comforting hand. "And neither did I."

"So, that's why you're so eager to get her to Texas," Zay sighed.

"Yeah," Lucas agreed. "I found that stupid text on her phone and I can tell you, I was very tempted to skip all my classes and devote my time to find the sender of those messages."

"Maya doesn't know who is sending them either?" Farkle inquired.

Lucas shook his head gravely.

"I think I can find out." His eyes took on a fiery determination and if Lucas hadn't spoken, Farkle would have marched right over to Maya's house and snatched her phone out of her hand.

"Not yet," Lucas reminded, much to his chagrin. "Oh, I know, Farkle. I get how you're feeling right now, but we can't make any move to fix it or else this whole Texas thing would just blow up in our faces if Maya found out."

"No," Riley exclaimed, planting her head in her outstretched fingers. "Poor Peaches. Oh, Maya, how could you not tell me?" She sounded so mournful, the rest of the quartet couldn't help but feel especially sorry for the desperate brunette.

"Let's just get her to Texas, okay?" Lucas gained their attention once more, his tired but strong voice commanding. "Let's just get that far."