𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 | 𝐀𝐉 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐒

prologue.

maya summers had been sat cross legged on the floor doing her homework when she first came out as a lesbian. she was thirteen and she'd always imagined it being a bigger deal than what it was. but the words tumbled out of her mouth to gabriela campos one random thursday evening. "cool," gaby had responded. "me too." gaby had later come out to her own family at her and aj's birthday party which maya wished she'd been brave enough to do.

gaby spent most of that year trying to set maya up. she wanted them to be able to double date and maya couldn't help but admit that idea sounded great. she'd always been a huge romantic but most of the time she ended up getting in the way of herself. maya thought that having gaby help out was a good idea and with anyone else, it might've been. but maya was awkward and clumsy, she either said too much or too little and most of the time she just didn't vibe with the people gaby picked for her. so maya stopped trying, she encouraged her friend as she watched her form relationships from the sidelines. and for the most part, she was fine with that.

that same year gaby tried out for track, dragging maya with her because she didn't want to do it without her. maya had complained at the time but it turned out to be one of her better decisions. it was something she was instantly good at. she'd made the track team alongside gaby and her twin sister and managed to gain friendships outside of gaby for the first time ever. she felt comfortable for once and soon enough the track team turned into a little family.

it wasn't until two years later when maya was fifteen that she came out to her parents, she had been terrified for the longest time. her mind had created various scenarios and none of them had a good outcome but the reality was far different than what maya had imagined. her parents had always been supportive, but she didn't realise that supportive quality would stretch to her sexuality. they had embraced her and told her that they were happy for her and then immediately asked if she had a girlfriend. to which maya did not. they told her that was ok, that she was young and that dating could wait. and then they asked her about aj campos.

aj campos was gaby's twin sister and maya really didn't have too much to do with her. they were on the track team together and maya spent a lot of time at their house with gaby so sometimes they ended up having small conversations, but it was never anything more than that. maya found aj endearing, she was quiet and spent most of her time around maya being quiet and mostly closed off. maya had tried to be friends with both of them but aj always seemed to prefer her own company so maya had learnt to leave her alone.

when she pressed her parents about what they meant, they simply said that it made sense. she was around the campos twins a lot, gaby had a partner and aj didn't, so to them it made sense that maya would date her apparently. when maya made it clear that she had no interest in aj campos, her parents almost seemed disappointed. until they said "well maybe it's for the better, it could ruin your friendship with gabriela." maya didn't know why her stomach sank at that, as if her dating aj or losing gaby was ever a possibility. she had just smiled and left the room, she knew that her parents meant well after all.

gaby and maya had been friends since they were six years old and for almost ten years they'd been completely inseparable. gaby was maya's soulmate but in a completely platonic way. they filled a gap in the others lives and always knew how the other was feeling and maya liked it that way. gaby was always one of the most important people in her life, she was the only constant in maya's life. if there was one thing that maya summers was sure of, it was that nothing or no one could get in the way of their friendship. and she knew that if a relationship ever got in the way of their friendship, she'd save her friendship in a heartbeat.