sweater weather ↠ markle

nine ↠ the drawing

Maya's P.O.V.

Sneakers step foot onto the frosty concrete, and for a moment, I let myself take in the chill, just to prepare myself for the rest of the day. Then it's up and at 'em, strutting towards my unsavory ride and trying to ignore the ever-present smirk on Farkle's lips.

I let myself into the car, nearly moaning at the feeling of blasting heat. He had left it running, which isn't the best idea in this neighborhood, but I couldn't care less at the moment. When Farkle got in, he laughed at the sight of me fawning over the heat, but I merely took one more moment in the glory before buckling myself in and letting the boy take the wheel.

Ok, first thing to know about Farkle Minkus— he drives like a fucking maniac.

Maybe I wasn't paying attention yesterday, or maybe it was because I just really didn't care, but this time, I was fully aware that this boy could kill me at any moment.

"Jesus Fucking Christ Farkle, slow down! It's New York, not Ohio!" I could feel my bitten nails digging into the leather seats of the car, feet planted firmly on the floorboards in fear of my life. "If I had known you were going to kill me, I wouldn't have taken the ride!"

I heard merely a laugh in response, but luckily for my life, we caught a red light. "Ok, so this is the last time I ever get in a car with you, you know, if I'm alive when we get to school."

The boy continued to laugh, merely looking over as the other lanes continued to move like cattle. "You didn't seem to care yesterday."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't paying attention then."

That usual smirk fell onto his lips once more, and I've never hated it more. "Glad I finally got your attention, then."

I didn't respond, merely huffed and tightened my seat belt just as the light turned green. I kept my grip on the seat the rest of the ride to school, only truly relaxing when we pulled into the student parking lot. I threw off my seat belt, scrambling to gather my stuff and get out of that car as fast as I could, all the while, Farkle sat in his seat sending out his morning messages.

I might've been staring for a moment too long, a bit more focused on him to realize I had grabbed my bag from the wrong end, sending a few of my books falling out onto the seat. "Shit."

I regained Farkle's attention. "Oh, damn." His hands instantly moved to help pick my fallen things up from his floorboard and seats. I wasn't too keen on accepting more help from him, but my pride had already been weakened these last few days.

My eyes stayed glued to my belongings, shoving them into the tattered bag, not even noticing when Farkle picked up something that wasn't necessarily supposed to be in my backpack.

My sketchbook, still open to the page from last night.

Fuck.

"Woah," he began before I could get a word in, "this looks amazing... and I'm starting to question if you really don't want that Sweater." Oh great, the smirk.

"I draw things that annoy me." My eyes narrowed.

"Oh, is that right? Then I've got to be in here somewhere." His fingers moved to flip through the pages, but I instantly snatched it from his grip, shoving it into my backpack and stepping out of the car.

"That is private, and we are nowhere near close enough for you to see it. So just don't even think about it." With that, I slammed the car door shut and darted towards the front entrance, hoping to lose Minkus back at the car, but of course, he never sticks to my internal plans.

"I knew you drew, but you've got real talent, you know? Like not 8th grade doodling talent, real talent, Maya." The boy was resilient, closing in on my side within seconds of leaving the car. I could already feel eyes on us, and soon, the whispers would come. This was the beginning of a high school tsunami ride. "You should enter yourself into contests, I could probably find a few around tow—"

I stopped in my tracks, swirling around towards the boy. "Look, we are not friends. We are not friendly. We are not close in any way. I appreciate all the shit you've done for me, but now it's time to go find yourself another charity case. You can keep your jumper cables, I'll find another way home." I turned away, attempting to keep myself calm, but I knew what was coming.

All of the rejection in the world couldn't stop the wave of gossip heading my way.

↠

This is slightly shitty, but it's 6 mins to midnight and I'm still on mobile, so bare with me here.

As always, please comment, vote, and share this story with your friends! I appreciate all the love given to this book, it is my baby

- dani <3