Girl Meets Second Chances

Thirteen

"Earth to Maya."

Riley's voice cuts through her thoughts and she snaps herself out of the daze she's in.

"I'm sorry Riles. What were you saying?"

She tries to refocus her attention on the back of Riley's head and goes back to pulling random bits of nature from her hair but Riley glances over her shoulder at her, giving her a knowing look.

"So, do you wanna talk about this now or are we gonna pretend like it didn't happen?"

"I'll take pretend like it didn't happen for two hundred," she says taking Riley's shoulders and facing her forward so that she can finish her hair.

"Wrong answer," Riley says, spinning around to face her completely. "We're talking about this right now."

Maya sighs, her hands dropping to her lap in defeat. Avoiding this conversation had officially become unavoidable, especially in the face of a determined Riley.

"Fine," she says, surrendering to Riley's expectant eyes. "Even though I don't see why we even have to talk about this."

"Because you spent the whole day alone with Josh. That's a big deal. And now you and Lucas are fighting. Maybe we could talk about what's going on?"

"Look I honestly have no idea. What I do know is that me and Josh spent that day as friends and me and Lucas are not fighting."

Riley gives her a look that says she thinks otherwise.

"It seemed like more than just a day between friends to me," Riley says and Maya can't help but roll her eyes. "And fighting or not, I think you should talk to Lucas. Clear the air."

"But what if I don't wanna?"

"Well tough," Riley says, crossing her arms over her chest. "We all want this trip to be a good one and that doesn't work if you and Lucas aren't on the same page."

"Fine," she says, knowing she's right. "I'll talk to Lucas, okay? Happy now?"

"Of course I am." Riley gives her a satisfied smile but it doesn't quite reach her eyes and Maya immediately knows why.

"Okay Honey, now that we've talked about me I think it's time we talk about what's going on with you," she says, linking arms with her.

Riley tries her best to be nonchalant about the whole thing but quickly loses her cool.

"Me? There's nothing going on with me. Why would you think there's something going on with me?"

"Come on Riles, why are you and Farkle fighting? You guys never fight."

Riley shrugs limply, her eyes going down into her lap.

"Well today on the hike, Farkle was going on about some rare moth he found but Lucas and Zay weren't really paying attention—"

"Like always."

"Right," Riley continues. "Farkle got frustrated and said that he wished that Smackle was there because she's the only one who truly appreciates his brain. I don't know Maya but it really bothered me when he said that...I mean we're his friends too and just because we're not geniuses like Smackle doesn't mean we can't appreciate Farkle and all of his braininess."

Maya stares at her best friend and can almost hear the I in every we she says.

"Farkle knows that," she says, gently. "I'm sure he didn't mean it that way."

Riley sighs, looking up at her.

"Yeah I know. But I was upset so I may have tried to prove that I was just as smart as Smackle by finding the waterfall on my own and I may have gotten everybody lost." She covers her face with her hand and lets out a long breath. "I don't know what's wrong with me Maya. I ruined everyone's day and now Farkle's mad at me. I feel awful."