It was late at night when it suddenly sounded like I heard someone tapping on my window. It was like someone on the fire escape. It woke me up. Who could be out there? I knew it was a bit of a bad idea to look, but I didn't open it until I saw a familiar figure out there.

"Maya?" I asked as I saw the blonde. "What are you doing out there?"

"It's a bit hard to explain." She answered. "Can I come in?"

It was raining and she was kind of wet, but I still had questions about why she was outside so late at night. Though, it probably wouldn't be wise to just let her wait outside.

"Sure." I answered as she came in through the window. I was a little surprised that she actually waited to do so, but maybe she was just polite. Maybe there was more to her than what I saw at the school.

"Do you need some dry clothes?" I asked her.

"If you have anything that will fit me, then sure." Maya replied as she started to undress. I did hope that she was wearing underwear at least. Fortunately, she was, but I couldn't help but stare at her as she was undressing for some reason. "Do you wanna take a picture? I bet I would look great as your wallpaper."

I then blushed and turned away. I then realized that I should see if I had anything that would fit her. I assumed my tops would fit her at least because we seemed to be the same size there. My concern was other things. I then realized that she might need someone to sleep in, even though I didn't know if she was going to be staying the night. My parents would not be happy if she walked into the kitchen.

"So did you want to stay the night?" I asked her.

"Sure, if you don't mind sharing your bed with me." Maya responded. I blushed a little at the thought of that. I wasn't sure why. It wasn't like I liked her like that or anything. I mean she was pretty attractive but I had a boyfriend and furthermore, I was straight. "Maybe I could just sleep in these."

At that moment, I was hit with the thought of her cuddled against me wearing only lingerie and for some reason, it made me feel things. I couldn't help but feel a little turned on. I had never felt like that thinking about Lucas before. I even tried to think of Lucas in the same position, and felt nothing different.

"So, would you be okay about leaving through the fire escape too? My parents don't really let me have friends over without asking" I explained.

"What about casual acquaintances?" Maya challenged. I supposed it made sense that she didn't consider me a friend because we had only known each other for two days.

"I'm pretty sure that they would be even less thrilled about that." I retorted.

"Well then I promise that I will be gone by sunrise." She stated as she hung her clothes up in my bathroom. We had a really nice apartment, but my mom made a lot of money.

Sleeping was a bit weird. I couldn't help but feel a little bit…turned on for some reason. I had shared beds with Emma and Maxine before and never felt what I felt with Maya. Part of me wondered if I should even tell them about this. The other thing that was on my mind was "How did Maya know where I lived?".

True to her word, she was gone when I awoke, and I couldn't help but feel…disappointed. I knew her staying would be bad news, but for some reason I wanted her to be there when I woke up. I wasn't even sure why. All I knew was that I needed to talk to her again.

I started to get ready for school. Maya's appearance left me with so many questions that I knew that I wouldn't get the answers to unless I asked her. What was she doing out so late at night? Why did she come to me? Where did she live?

I headed into the kitchen feeling a little bit nervous. I didn't think Mom and Dad knew anything about Maya's surprise visit and I didn't want to say anything to clue them in at all.

"Good morning." My mom greeted me.

"Where's Dad?" I asked in confusion. He was usually in the kitchen with her.

"He had to leave early for a parent-teacher conference." She explained. He hadn't said anything about that. "He said was going to talk to this new girl's parents and introduce himself."

That sounded like something he would do. I then realized that she meant Maya. I wondered what her parents were like too.

"It seems kind of early for that." I commented.

"Well apparently, this was the only time that they were free." She stated. "Now how about some pancakes?"

I did like that Mom was able to make pancakes because she didn't need to be at the courthouse until later. I sat down at the table and began to eat. Not to mention, my mom made the best pancakes. She could probably be a chef if she wanted to. She tried to teach me some recipes, but I lost interest usually.

I went outside to meet Emma and Maxine once again. I probably didn't want to tell them about Maya because they might think that I was weird…or gay…or both.

"So did anything interesting happen last night?" Maxine asked me once I was outside.

"No, nothing at all." I answered quickly.

"Okay…" Emma declared. Maybe they already thought that I was weird. I still probably shouldn't tell that I slept with Maya in my bed. I had to be very careful about the wording of that sentence because I knew people could confuse it for something else. "So you two are coming over to my place today after school, aren't you?"

"Yeah, so is your mom going to be there?" Maxine asked. I was probably going to do it. I mean we always hung out together.

"Would you mind if I invite Maya over?" I questioned.

"Why are you so hung up on this girl?" Emma replied as I blushed. "Do you have a crush on her or something?"

"No, I just want to be friends with her. What's wrong with that?" I challenged.

"Nothing." Maxine stated before she looked over at Emma. "Of course you can invite her."

"Shouldn't I get a say in who comes over to my place?" Emma asked.

"I guess you're right." I admitted with a bit of a frown.

"Fine, she you can invite her over." Emma said before muttering. "You didn't have to guilt me into it."

I actually wasn't trying to guilt her into it. For all I knew, Maya wouldn't even want to come. I just wanted her to know that she had people that she could talk to if she wanted. I would have to find Maya as soon as I got to school, which might not be easy since I didn't have her number. I couldn't believe that I had known her for a few days and I hadn't thought to ask her for her number yet. I also needed to find out if she was on Instagram or TikTok as well.

So when I got to school, I began to look for Maya. I wasn't entirely sure how to find her since I also didn't know where her locker was. Maybe I could try to find her by the scent of peaches. What the hell was that idea? What was I, a dog? Thankfully I managed to spot her, but before I could make my way over to her, Lucas intercepted me.

"Hey." He greeted before he gave me a kiss.

"Hi." I replied. Because I was polite, I kissed him back. It was at that point that I noticed Maya was no longer in my view.

"So what are you doing after school?" He asked.

"I told Emma and Maxine that I would hang out with them." I explained. I imagined that Emma definitely would not want me to invite him over. We kind of had a no boyfriends during girl time rule. Part of me wondered if it was just because they didn't like Lucas. I never actually asked them if they liked him. It was also possible that Maxine liked him and Emma didn't.

He started talking about something, but I wasn't really paying attention because I was thinking about where Maya had gone off to.

"Riley?" He asked.

"What?" I responded.

"You looked like you zoned out there for a minute." He commented.

"I need to go talk to my dad." I stated. I actually wanted to know how the conference with Maya's parents had went and what they were like.

"Okay. I'll let you do that." He said.

I decided the best place to talk to him would be in his classroom.

"Hey Dad." I greeted him.

"Hey Riley." He replied. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Good." I lied. "So I heard you had a parent-teacher conference with Maya's parents."

"I did." He stated.

"What were they like?" I asked.

"Riley, you know I can't tell you anything that happens at parent-teacher conferences, they're strictly between parents and teachers." He remarked.

I sighed. I didn't know why he was being so coy about what happened, especially since he had told me about some of the others he had before. I did realize that it probably wasn't a good idea to press him on it.

I then realized that Maya would be sitting next to me in class and I could definitely talk to her during or after class, so it wouldn't be too long before I could ask her if she wanted to hang out today.

Fortunately, Dad was lecturing so I was able to get some looks in at Maya. She had changed clothes, which I shouldn't have been surprised about. Actually, I was surprised because I didn't know when she had left or how far she had to go to get to her house/apartment/wherever she lived. Her clothes actually looked brand new to be honest.

When we got out of class, I knew that I needed to talk to her. Hopefully I would be able to do it without Lucas being around. I decided to quickly grab her and take her to the girl's bathroom.

"What's this about?" She asked.

"I needed to talk to you." I said. I was kind of nervous just being in her presence. Why was it so hard to ask her a simple question?

"Well I'm here and we're talking." Maya pointed out. "Is this about last night? Are you upset that I wasn't there this morning?"

"No…I…" I replied as I tried to remember what I was going to say to her. "I wanted to ask if you wanted to come over to my friend's house with me."

"Which friend?" She inquired. I wasn't sure why that mattered.

"Emma." I answered.

"Sure, if she's okay with me coming over." Maya replied. I still didn't understand why it mattered so much that it was Emma, unless she thought that I was bringing Lucas along and she didn't want to be the third wheel. I wouldn't know why she would think that I would rather hang out with him over her. Wait. Why did I want to hang out with her over my boyfriend?

At lunch, Maya was once again alone with no food. I kind of wondered why she even bothered going to the lunchroom if she wasn't going to sit with anyone or eat. There were probably other things that she could do instead.

After school, I decided to find her before I went to meet up with Emma and Maxine. However, before I could even start looking for her, she seemed to find me.

"So where are we going?" She asked.

"Well first we have to meet up with Emma and Maxine and then we're going to take the subway to her apartment." I explained. "Don't you get cold dressed like that?"

"Not really. I don't really get cold." She answered. That was kind of weird. I supposed that was a useful trait for living in New York.

Maxine or Emma didn't really talk to her when we were on the subway, but I supposed that subway rides tended to be quiet anyway since it was generally hard to have a conversation because other people could be listening.

"Here we are." Emma said.

"This place is nice." Maya commented.

"It should be. We own it." Emma declared. We then took the elevator up to the top floor. Maxine and I followed Emma inside but Maya stayed outside. "What are you doing?"

"I'm waiting for you to invite me in, I don't want to feel like I'm intruding." Maya remarked. That was the second time that Maya asked to be invited in somewhere? What was up with that? That was weird, wasn't it?

"Okay…" Emma responded. "Come in?"

Maya then stepped inside.

"So are your siblings here?" Maxine asked.

"I don't think so." Emma said as we walked into the kitchen and saw Emma's mom was there. "Hey Mom."

"Hi." Mrs. Ross responded before she stopped suddenly and was staring at Maya. "Oh my god."

"Mom, are you okay?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, I was just feeling a little bit of déjà vu." The woman declared. "Did you make a new friend?"

"Yeah, this is Maya." Emma introduced. I assumed that she didn't want to be awkward and say that Maya was only there because I asked if she could come.

"You know Emma, this isn't exactly a good time. I think your friends should probably go home now." Her mother responded.

"I guess we'll see you tomorrow then." Maxine replied. That was weird. Why was everyone acting so weird all of a sudden?

So, the three of us exited the building. Maxine was the first one to speak.

"So we can hang out at my place if you want." She offered.

"I should probably get home. I'm feeling hungry." Maya replied. I probably should offer to get her something to eat.

"My house connects with our restaurant." Emma pointed out.

"No thanks, you're not going to have what I want there." Maya declared before she walked away. I wanted to follow her but I didn't know where I was going and New York was dangerous at night. She seemed like she moved pretty fast too.

"Do you wanna come over?" Maxine asked. That got me to look at her.

"Yeah, sure." I replied.

"So do you have a crush on Maya?" She inquired as we headed back to the subway.

"What?" I replied. How did she come to that conclusion? "No. Why would you think that?"

"Well, you're acting weird whenever you're around her." She pointed out. "I'm not going to judge you if you do, even if I think it's a little unfair to Lucas."

"I don't have a crush on her." I stated. At least I didn't think that I did. I did want to find out more about her and why she seemed to be so different from everyone else though. Something about her just was not right and I needed to find out what was it was, just as legally as I possibly could. I would find out as long as it was legal.

So Riley is starting to notice the weird things about Maya, like how she needs to be invited in to places. What will happen when she learns the truth? Also she's falling for Maya whether she realizes it or not. Please don't forget to review.