And Then She Stopped

chapter two

The next morning, as Maya waited for the alarm to go off, she stared at the stack of papers on her desk. Her scribbles were practically illegible because she wrote with a shaking hand and tears smeared together some of the words. So this is life.

Just as the day before- and every day before that- when the alarm sounded she turned it off and put her phone in her pocket. The day was Friday, that meant it was BINGO Thursday the night before at Topanga's café, so Maya wasn't expecting to see her mother on her way out.

The streets were silent, as they always were when she left. As much as she didn't hate it here, she wasn't a complete idiot. Maya knew that if she left even a minute late in the morning she could run into a drunk, high, or horny neighbor – which was never a good thing for a young blonde girl like herself.

When she climbed through Riley's window, Riley was –as she usually was- still asleep. She plopped herself right next to Riley and nudged her.

"Good morning sunshine." Riley turned around and put her face in her pillow. Although it was muffled Maya could still hear her say- "Peaches."

"It's time to wake up darling, the day isn't waiting for you to start." And with that Riley got up. Maya started to shuffle through Riley's closet until Riley came over to pick out her outfit.

"I swear I never have anything to wear." She said, obviously not taking notice to the fact that Maya was wearing the same shirt and jeans she did the day before, just with a different jacket.

"Not a bad problem to have," Maya said staring longingly into Riley's walk in closet with more than one row of clothes, "It'll make you more creative." Riley shrugged and pulled out a yellow dress with her favorite navy blue jacket.

In the kitchen today Topanga made oatmeal, Auggie was complaining about how "icky" oatmeal was and Maya happily ate his share of it as Topanga fixed him a bowl of cereal. The small talk was minimal, there isn't usually much to talk about at the end of the week except what to do on the weekend and the kids usually all hang out at Topanga's café anyways.

"Thank you for breakfast Mrs. Matthews." Maya said walking over to the door, with Riley right behind her. The two of them marched into the school the same as they'd done before, with Maya tugging down on her sleeves and throwing good homework in the recycling bin. The one thing that was different was Lucas.

"You're here early Huckleberry." Maya said sliding her empty lunchbox into her locker- old habits die hard.

"I was hoping I could talk to Riley..." he looked at Maya, and then Riley, and then Maya again. Maya got the hint and she went into Cory's classroom to help him set up for the day, closing the door behind her.

"What'd you want to talk about Lucas?" She sat next to him on the bench.

"Listen, your dad has me all freaked out about this World War thing and I just thought you should know," he looked at the closed door, "If I have to pick a side I'm on Smackles. I don't know what's going on between you and Farkle but she had the right to be concerned."

There was a moment of silence as they both looked at the floor, everybody fights, but they were Lucas and Riley. They were supposed to be Cory and Topanga, but that's not at all what they felt like they were.

"It's okay Lucas, I agree with Smackle too." She lied, smiling and looking Lucas in the eye, "I'm siding with Farkle because he's my friend." Swiftly she got up and walked into the classroom.

"What happens when countries go to war?" Mr. Matthews asked standing in front of the classroom. "They pick sides. People can pick sides for any reason, loyalty, personal gain, or they could simply just want to be on the winning side. Whatever your reasons, just know that every war has casualties, so be ready to lose a friend to this fight, or just stop the fight."

Maya nodded along and took notes as she doodled around the edges of the page and Riley, naturally, scribbled her name and Lucas' across the page, she felt like they had to be together. Because that's what Cory and Topanga did.

At the end of class today Riley waited for Maya outside the door.

"Hey Maya, can you do me a favor?" She asked pulling Maya off to the side towards the lockers.

"Of course."

"I know you ride the bus with Lucas sixth hour, and I know he listens to you , so could you maybe try to tell him to join my side? I know it's not your side either but- I'm really scared Mye, I'm scared our relationship might be falling apart."

Maya smiled the best she could, it was her best one. The smile that could almost completely mask the pain in her eyes. "Of course Riles."

When the time came for Maya to ride the bus with Lucas she got awkward and uncomfortable. The bus ride, her favorite time of day, was now a silent journey. When the other school was in sight she finally spoke up.

"Lucas, you need to be on Farkles' side."

"But, Maya then none of the four of us would be on your side. I don't want you to be the casualty." He said grabbing hold of her hand, she shook his hand off as the bus stopped.

"Don't you worry about me, I'm fine. Side with Farkle, Riley needs you." She stood, and she went inside of the building.

Instead of taking the bus back to the school she decided to walk home from the other high school, anything was better than having to sit through another silent bus ride with Lucas, even walking in the cold. Today her jacket was more decorative than practical so she found herself running to not get cold, staring straight at the ground to make sure she didn't slip. When she finally got home she hadn't expected to see her mother there.

Katy tried to talk to Maya but Maya could smell the tequila when she walked in so she knew she wouldn't remember any of this anyways. Maya got into her room and looked at the letters. So far there were 3, she wanted to start with the most important people and work her way back to just... people she cared enough about. She picked up her pencil and looked at the unfinished piece of paper. What else was there to say? I'm sorry you had to know me? Thank you for putting up with me? Please don't remember me. She sat there for a while before getting up and going to Topanga's, slamming the door on her way out. It took the extra push for her to feel like she was really leaving, the things that have happened in that home could follow you around anywhere if you didn't lock them in.