A/N: Very much a canon divergent fic now that we've seen Maya's mom in the show, but I'm still really attached to this oneshot 3

Also for context Maya is 9 here, Rowan is 20

The car ride to Maya's new house was horrible. Rowan kept the air conditioner on too high and kept trying to tell her stories about his boyfriend to fill the silence.

Maya didn't care what Simon thought of the last Marvel movie or what happened when they were trying to buy tickets, all she wanted to do was turn on the classic rock radio station (Dad's favorite) and watch trees pass by the window.

"Almost there Maya! I promise, you're going to like it here. There are plenty of kids to play with, and I hear that the baseball team is stellar!" Rowan said.

"Whatever." Maya mumbled. She pressed her forehead to the window, taking in the neighborhood.

Simon was waiting for them on the couch. Maya clenched her duffel bag tighter in one hand and her backpack strap in the other.

"Hey babe." He got up and gave Rowan a kiss on the cheek. "And you must be Maya. I've heard a lot about you. I'm Simon Berrocal, pleasure to meet you." He gave a smile, but Maya just scowled at the floor. She didn't have anything against the man, but he was trying so hard, and she couldn't care less right now. It was all so much.

"C'mon Maya, I'll show you your room."

The room was a soft, baby blue just like her room at home. A dresser and bed frame with a mattress were in the room, but nothing else.

"I know it's barren, but I figured that you would be bringing your stuff from home and we could shop for everything else together. Make sure to get stuff you'd like." Maya made a noncommittal noise, something that sounded vaguely like an agreement, and just stared at the bed.

It was a light bed frame, that kind of honeyed brown that her mom had always said looked like grandma furniture.

"I'll go grab the rest of your stuff from the car and bring it up." Rowan left the room.

Maya put the duffle bag down and swung her backpack onto the bed. Focus on the new room, the new possibilities. Her posters could go on the wall above the bed, the other photos she had brought could go around the room. Baseball gear could go in that corner, and her signed baseball could stay on the dresser top.

Digging through her backpack, she found the baseball. Pristine condition except for the blue writing done by her favorite batter. Maya held it in her hand, remembering Christmas morning— god had that only been a week ago —and how it felt to hold it for the first time, how it felt to run back to her parents and give them the biggest hugs she could because these sold out immediately and how did they find it.

Maya registered Rowan coming into the room with two boxes, and Simon following with a suitcase, but she didn't react. Simon left the room and Rowan came over, placing his hand on her shoulder as the stood in the empty room.

"I miss mom and dad."

"I do too, Maya." He rubbed his thumb on her shoulder, a gesture her dad had always done whenever he comforted them. "It's going to work out though, I promise."

"I don't want to go to a new school." Her voice was filled with resentment. Because as much as she hated Mrs. Jenkins and some of the kids there, she wanted to go back.

"Hey, winter break still lasts for a week and a half over here, so you've got time to get settled." He said, trying to cheer her up. "The kids here are great from what I've seen, and the baseball really is supposed to be slamming." It took a second for her to process those words.

"Was that an attempt at a pun?"

"Maybe." She didn't even have to look up to hear the smile on his face but she did anyways, taking comfort in the familiar sight.

"You're terrible at those."

"Hey, a guy can dream!"

Starting a new school in January was hard enough, getting into a fight on the first day just made things worse.

It was recess and Maya was scoping out the field. There was a basketball court that some kids were goofing off on, some kids running laps around the track, and a giant game of what looked to be tag being organized.

Maya decided that playing tag was her best bet.

"Hey, can I join?" She approached one of the main kids tentatively. The kid had long, wavy black hair and green eyes.

"Of course! Do you know how to play Infection?" They didn't stop for an answer. "I'll explain anyways. It's basically tag, but once you get tagged you aren't out, you start tagging other people! The game lasts until everyone is tagged or recess ends. Anyone left I tagged at the end of recess wins! I'm Violet by the way, what's your name? You just moved here, right? Do you have a favorite color? Mine is purple, like my name!" Maya could barely keep up. Before Violet could say anything else, a stocky redhead clapped his hands.

"ALRIGHT! I'm the starting tagger! Everyone, GO!" The kids scattered like a dropped jar of jellybeans, and Maya followed suit.

She raced across the field, weaving around kids standing and talking. Watching as kids got tagged left and right, Maya learned the strategies. Most kids just chased after whoever was closest, so it was easy to avoid being chased at the beginning. Everyone was focused on the track kids and were more than happy to let the new girl slip through their fingers if a better chance proposed itself. Eventually it came down to Maya and a few other kids that were left. Maya's lungs burned from the running and she was sweating in her winter coat but she loved it.

The girl wearing a My Little Pony hoodie was tagged, then the kid who was wearing basketball shorts (for some reason), and even the bulky girl with purple hair. Soon, Maya found herself running for her life from a horde of kids, almost like a zombie movie.

Unlike zombies, these kids could strategize. She could see them nodding, and soon they started to move into a formation. She noticed what they were doing just a little too late. She was trapped in a circle of kids, and they were closing in. Frantically looking around, she spotted an opening. Two kids had just enough space between them for her to slip through. She ran towards the gap, but one of the kids noticed her plan, and held his arms up sealing the gap. She couldn't break through without getting tagged, but she couldn't stop now. Maya sent a silent prayer that those extra practices had payed off, and slid under their arm like it was the bottom of the ninth. She got up as soon as she skidded to a halt and started sprinting away from the group. Then, the teachers started clapping and yelling for kids to line back up.

Recess was over, she had won.

Maya stopped running and allowed the kids to catch up with her.

"That was so cool!"

"You looked like an action movie hero! Or a baseball star!"

"Where did you learn to do that?"

Everyone was talking at once, congratulations her and asking a million questions. It was overwhelming, but not entirely terrible. They thought she was cool. Then the redhead who started the game patted her on the back.

"That was a wicked slide, what's your name?" He kept his hand on her back.

"I'm Maya."

"My name is Nick, you just moved here right?"

"Yeah, just last week."

"Cool, why'd you move here?" She wanted his hand off of her, he smelled like mayonnaise.

"Doesn't matter."

"Did your mom or dad get a new job?"

"It doesn't matter." The crowd of kids were all quiet now, listening. Everyone was curious. It felt even more suffocating than when they were all talking.

"Did one of your parents break the law? Are you in hiding?"

"No." She pushed his hand off of her, but that didn't get rid of the feeling of being watched.

"Then why won't you tell us?" Everyone's eyes were on her and the crowd had stopped walking. A teacher was walking over, telling them all to hurry up.

"Leave me alone."

"Did someone die?"

"Shut up." She started to walk away but Nick grabbed her shoulder again.

"Ooo, someone did!" Maya turned on her heel and punched him as hard as she could.

"SHUT UP."

The crowd seemed to lessen and swell at the same time. Kids ran to get teachers, but more kids joined, hungry to get a look at the spectacle. Nick's nose was bleeding and looked all wrong, but he pounced right back and shoved her to the ground.

Rolling in the dirt Maya got a few more good punches in, maybe a scratch or two, and Nick landed a few blows of his own before two teachers pulled them away from each other and herded the rest of the kids inside.

Maya's mouth tasted like pennines and her shirt and chin were covered in blood. Most of it from her split lip and bleeding palm. She hadn't realized it got that cut up when sliding, there was a rock or something, so it ended up smearing all over her pants when she wiped her hand off. The split lip was from Nick. Everything had been checked by the nurse, but she could still feel the stinging pain.

A woman came into the room and sat in a chair next to her, big blond hair with pointed red lipstick and a pantsuit that screamed Karen. She gave Maya a dirty look before going on her phone and typing furiously. Her presence filled the room and made Maya shrink in the chair, holding her backpack on her lap even tighter.

Rowan came rushing in, work uniform still on.

"Oh my god, Maya are you alright?" He ran over and immediately grabbed her face and inspected the split lip before looking at the bandages on her hand.

"I'm fine." She said, trying to push him away.

"Maya, what—" before Rowan could finish, a man walked into the office.

"The principal will see you three now."

The principal was a sturdy man who looked straight out of a western. Complete with a cowboy hat and handlebar mustache.

"Now, Maya today was your first day here, is that right."

"…yeah." Maya fought to say anything at all. The situation catching up to her.

"Now why would you go about starting a fight on—" The woman cut him off.

"Excuse me, Principal Kane, you cannot be serious right now. My son is currently in the hospital with a broken nose because of this— this ruffian and you want to ask her why?!" She spoke with pointed words, venom in every barb.

"Mrs. Colfer I understand your concern, but—"

"But nothing! You are lucky that I'm not pressing charges because this is grounds to sue! Especially if the girl is going to go unpunished!"

"Now, slow down. Maya is not getting off Scott-free. She will receive due repercussions for her actions—" Maya shut their voices out and focused on making the lump in her throat go away.

She hadn't wanted to break Nick's nose, she was just angry and he kept pushing.

Mrs. Colfer stood up and grabbed her purse, grabbing Maya's attention.

"I will be calling the school board about this, mark my words!" She slammed the door shut as she left. The woman knew how to leave an impression, Maya would give her that.

"I do apologize, Mr. Beatty. Mrs. Colfer has quite a temper."

"I noticed." Rowan let out a humorless chuckle.

"As I was saying before; Maya, why did you start the fight?" A spark ignited in Maya's gut.

"I didn't start it, Nick did. He was being a jerk."

"Did he throw the first punch, though?"

"…no."

"Exactly. Now, I am sorry to have to do this, but we have a strict no violence policy at this school. Both you and Nick will be having a few days of OSS, Out of School Suspension." Maya felt her heart sink.

"I understand, Mr. Kane. Is that all?" Rowan said, face neutral.

"That's all, your teacher will have your make up work ready for you when you come back, Maya." Principal Kane tipped his hat their direction and Rowan got up to leave. Maya grabbed her bag and scrambled to follow him.

Trees covered every inch of this part of Maryland. Maya found in comforting, in a round about way. Much easier to focus on than her brother right now.

Rowan was driving, and was gripping the stealing wheel tighter than normal. Maya was expecting a scolding, maybe even being grounded. Instead Rowan turned into a McDonalds drive through.

"Two milkshakes, one vanilla and one strawberry. Both medium." Maya sat there baffled as Rowan got the drinks and parked in the parking lot.

He handed her the vanilla shake. "Here, you can have my cherry too, just give me a second." He fished the cherry out and handed it over on a napkin.

"I'm— I'm confused. Why are we, I mean, aren't I in trouble?"

"Oh absolutely, no matter what was happening you shouldn't have punched the kid. These are not 'good job for punching that kid' milkshakes." He took a sip from his drink. "But you also had a pretty bad first day of school, I take it?" Maya rolled her eyes.

"As if that wasn't obvious." A bit of malice leaked into her voice unintentionally.

"Yeah, yeah that's fair. So… talk to me. Tell me what happened."

Maya took a long sip of her milkshake.

"It started at recess. I asked some kids if I could play with them and they said yes. It was kind of like tag but way more fun. Anyways, I won the game and everyone was congratulating me and asking how I knew how to slide like that, like a real baseball player, and then Nick started talking." She ate both the cherries before continuing. "He started asking me questions about why I moved here and wouldn't leave me alone. He asked me—" she swallowed the lump in her throat "He asked me if anyone had died. And I— I just, I don't know. I just punched him." She started biting on her straw, glancing over at Rowan.

"Maya?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to say a word, and it's a bad word you're not allowed to repeat, okay?"

"Okay? I guess?"

"That kid was being a dick." Maya's head whipped up and her eyes grew wide.

"Rowan!"

"Again, you are not allowed to say that word, but it's true. He shouldn't be prying like that. That still doesn't mean you were in the right for punching him, sometimes you need to be the bigger person and walk away."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Maya said, giving him a fond scowl. Rowan returned the gesture by tousling her hair a bit.

"Alright, let's go. Simon will be wondering where we are."

It was her first day back from OSS and already she could feel the difference. Her first day had been weird because everyone was wondering what the new kid would be like, how they would act and react. Now they knew how she would, or at least they thought they did. When she sat down at her desk all the kids around her stiffened and tried to sit as far away from her as possible without getting out of their chairs. Nick scowled at her from across the classroom, nose still bandaged up. Whispers circled around.

"Nick's nose was completely broken! Snapped in half almost!" "I heard she killed someone, that's why they moved." "I was right there, she bit him!" "I heard she had to move because she broke a kid's arm." "I heard—"

Lunch was even worse. She got her tray and sat down in an empty spot with a couple of kids nearby. The next time she looked up, there wasn't anyone within three seats of her.

Recess was the worst though, no lessons or food to distract her. Kids would walk away whenever they could see her near them and when she asked if she could play Infection, the crowd went silent until one brave soul, a short kid with piercing blue eyes, gathered up the courage to talk to her.

"N-no. You can't play with us." Maya turned around and left them alone.

It was fine, really. She didn't mind sitting alone in the grass, watching all the other kids play games and have fun. It didn't hurt that Violet, the only other kid who had talked to her before, refused to meet her eyes. Really, she was fine with it.

It was fine.

Maya sat up in bed, heart pounding and mouth dry. The nightmare was horrible, a swirling mix of memories that she would rather forget.

The truck in front of them swerved, crashing through the barrier in the road. Their car swerved and tried to avoid it—

Hopping out of bed, Maya went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. The kitchen was dark and she struggled to find the right cabinet, but it wasn't too much trouble. Goal achieved, Maya took the cup back upstairs.

Sounds were coming from Rowan's room, harsh voices whispering back and forth. Creeping closer to the door, Maya could make our parts of the argument.

"…Not ready…"

"…I can't do that…"

"…I'm not asking you to…"

"…she's a great kid, I'm the problem…"

"…maybe we should take a break…"

Maya went back to bed, ignoring what they said. It meant nothing, absolutely nothing.

Rowan had come into her room that Saturday while she was working on a school project at her desk. His face was grim but he still tried to give her a smile. (It didn't work.)

"Maya, I need to talk with you. Can I sit here?" He gestured to her bed.

"Sure." She didn't pay much attention, trying to bury herself in her work.

"So, Simon is going to be moving out." Maya lost any focus she had on her project.

"What? Why?" Rowan collected himself, running a hand through his hair.

"There are… a lot of reasons. You don't need to know all of them. But we both decided that we needed a break from each other for a bit." Rowan was looking at her carefully, trying to gauge her reaction. Maya recalled the conversation she overheard. '…she's a great kid…' That had been Simon talking.

About her.

"Is it because of me?" The words slipped out of her mouth before she could catch them, spilling out into the silence.

"What?" The word was breathy, like Rowan couldn't believe what he was saying. His brow was furrowed and he looked horrified.

"Last night I— I heard a bit— you were arguing—" Maya scrambled to find the right words as her throat closed up, tears threatening to spill. "Simon mentioned me and you guys were arguing and—" her voice cracked and she could feel big, fat tears start to fall down her face.

"Maya, Maya, deep breaths, okay?" Rowan knelt down next to her chair and started over exaggerating his breathing. Maya gulped down the air, desperately trying to calm down.

Moments passed and slowly the tears stopped.

"I keep screwing everything up, don't I?" The words almost got stuck in her throat, but she pushed them out, desperate to get answers.

"No, no you don't Maya. You haven't screwed anything up." Rowan laid his hand over Maya's on the desk.

"But I have. I broke Nick's nose and everyone at school hates me and—"

"Maya, I'm stoping you right there." His tone was serious. "You haven't screwed anything up. Nick's nose was an accident and me and Simon aren't taking this break because of you."

"But I heard you talking, he mentioned me—"

"Simon said you were a great kid, right?" Maya nodded her head. "Exactly. He thinks you're awesome. There's just a lot of adult stuff going on that's messing with us." Maya rubbed her eyes with her shirt sleeve.

"Okay." She said, voice low.

"Now, what's this about everyone hating you?" Her stomach dropped a bit. Squirming in her seat, Maya gathered up her courage.

"No one talks to me, they're all scared I'm going to break their nose."

"Well, that's dumb." Rowan said with a slight chuckle. Maya shot him a glare and the humor left his face. "Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood."

"Well it's not going to work. I've tried talking to them, and being nice, but they just keep running away at acting like I'm about to attack them." It always hurt, thinking about how no one would even dare come near her if they could help it.

"Sometimes, people are dumb." Rowan said slowly. "People are especially dumb when they're scared, even if there's nothing to be scared of." Silence filled the space between them.

"I know it's not the same, but I was talking with a few of the parents who live around here and they said that their kids all play out in the woods, by the creek. There's more than one elementary school in the area, so there are bound to be new kids there!"

"Really?" Skepticism covered her face, one eyebrow raised.

"It's worth a shot at least. Now hurry up with your homework, I'm going to start dinner in a bit and I want you to help scramble the eggs."

It was too cold for this. It was late February and Maya could literally feel the cold air seeping through her coat, but Rowan didn't care. He tossed Maya a baseball, gave her a snack, and pointed her in the direction of the Creek before closing the door.

"'It'll be good for you Maya!' 'You should give the other kids a shot, Maya!'" She muttered while walking down the road. "Great idea, Rowan. Not like they haven't been taking about me with their other friends so everyone know about what happened." She kicked a stone across the street.

Maya found a small clearing and decided she would stay there for a few hours, then go home and tell Rowan it had all been a bust.

So began the longest game of Wall Ball But With A Tree ever played.

Bounce, catch. Bounce, catch. Over and over and over until she bounced the ball a little too hard and it flung back into the bushes.

"Drat." Maya ran in the direction the ball had gone, and started looking around for it.

"Um, excuse me." A new voice. Maya's head whipped around to see who was there. It was another kid, hair falling into their eyes and a blue shirt that almost swallowed them whole. "Is this your ball? It rolled over this way."

"Yeah, that's mine." Maya fumbled the words a bit, shocked the kid was talking to her.

"Perfect!" They tossed the ball over and Maya caught it. "That was a lot easier than I expected it to be." A dorky grin covered the kids face.

They walked a few paces forwards, until they were close enough to touch her. The kid stuck their hand out.

"I'm Omar, nice to meet you!" The smile grew wider, and they waited for a reply.

Hand a little shakey and mouth a little dry, she gave it to them.

"I'm Maya."

A/N: Maya: *mentions that her brother made her dinner once*

Me: Interesting… *makes an entire backstory centered around one passing reference*

So, I got inspiration for this from two major places:

Maya's behavior is loosely based off of Zoey from All Rise for the Honorable Perry T Cook by Leslie Connor (a fantastic book, definitely check it out!). The difference being Zoey made a friend at school and Maya did not :(

Then Okko's Inn (a movie based off of manga based off of a book lol) I won't say what it inspired exactly because that's a spoiler, so go watch or read it ;)

Infection is a game near and dear to my heart, we played it all the time in elementary school. We were a lot less organized than these kids, but oh well lol

Long rambles aside, I'm glad that you decided to read this! I've been calling it the "Maya Lore Fic" on Twitter because it's literally just me making shit up about Maya, but I actually do like how it turned out!