A Problem Like Maria

Chapter 25

Maria arrived home and walked through the door casually. The car wasn't in the driveway so she assumed Peg was at the church. She rushed up to her room and watched YouTube for a while before reluctantly unpacking. As she was blaring her music and throwing clothes in the hamper she heard the garage raise, but ignored it. When she heard the door open she became nervous as to what her excuse would be, but figured if anyone understood it would be Peg. When she heard the woman ascend the stairs she braced for the door to open.

Maria reached for her phone to shut it off as Peg opened the door slowly.

"You're home earlier than I thought?" Peg peeped in

"Yeah, I started to feel sick and didn't want to risk anyone catching anything" she wiped her nose to not only act stuffy but hide her lie.

"Is that all?" Peg raised an eyebrow. She didn't have to see a scrunched nose to know Maria was lying. She decided though to leave her be, Maria would open up in due time, surely.
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Georg was still kind to his siblings for the last 24 hours of the trip. He and Ellie had a nice enough time. Brigitta never spoke up about her suspicions or her conversation with Maria, nor did Ellie for that matter. Ellie was proud of herself, but could tell her boyfriend wasn't himself. He began acting like he had a year ago and she had the realization that that version of himself was not real, that was in fact his façade. Maria had brought out the real him that he had buried with his mother.

The week passed by painfully slow. Rafie could see that Maria was struggling with something but wouldn't dare voice it. Every day by the lockers Maria asked her friend any question she could think of to keep attention off herself. However, she did let it slip she wasn't babysitting anymore and missed the kids more than anything.

Maria was nice to Liesl is German class, but Liesl thought it was best not to push, instead she acted as if nothing was amiss and told Maria about Rolfe.

When Maria and Georg saw each other in the hallways it was almost painful to witness. They both didn't attempt to smile, rather they looked at the ground, eyes full of confusion and hurt. They would steal glances if they thought they wouldn't get caught, but Maria would scold herself when she did. She knew she should get over it and be happy for him and Georg knew he needed to be thankful for Ellie and stop being selfish.

Georg was acting like the old him. Max knew good and well his friend wasn't as happy as he pretended to be. Max and Ellie had discussed it at length and she would say he'd get over it soon enough, that it was just a phase. Max was smarter than that though. Every time he had gone Georg's house he had noticed there was no mention of Maria. He obviously knew she wasn't working there anymore but the children obviously missed her.

On Friday Max spotted Maria talking to her friend by the locker after school. He had chemistry class with this girl so it wouldn't seem out of the ordinary to walk up to Rafie. When he saw Maria walk away he approached Raife.

"Hey?" He said

"Uh Max?" Rafie shut her locker and looked at him cautiously.

"Do you know anythin-"

"Nope. Maria is private. She doesn't like to be open in fear of coming off needy." Rafie explained.

"I see Georg is the same way, except he's more of a brooder." He rolled his eyes.

"Ah angst" Rafie smiled and laughed lightly.

"We have to get them to at least talk to each other" Max said

"Duh. But she won't talk to him. I can tell she doesn't want to bother him or herself. She used to talk to him the time in passing but now she won't even look at him." Rafie crossed her arms.