Girl Meets Second Chances

Twenty One

Maya hums to herself as she leaves the art room, each step feeling feather light as she makes her way down the hallway. For the first time ever, she's actually glad that she let Lucas convince her to stay at school today. Because somehow, despite her brain being sluggish and sleep deprived, she found the inspiration she needed to finish her last painting for the exhibit. With the exhibit being less than a week away, she'd been stressed about finding the right painting to showcase, but with the final flick of her brush against the canvas, all her worry melted away.

She had dropped her hand down to her side, stepping back to examine her finished work. On the canvas, two familiar green eyes stared back at her, the reflection of the New York City skyline hidden within them. The city's lights shined bright against the night sky, and at the center of it all stood a girl, who looked an awful lot like her, taking it all in. The eyes expressed a fondness for the city and the girl and caused warmth to pool deep within Maya's stomach. It was then that she knew that this was the painting. After taking one last look at it, she'd put it away somewhere safe to dry before heading out to meet her friends for lunch.

Now, feeling like a weight has been lifted off her, Maya practically floats the rest of the way to the cafeteria. Once inside, she bypasses the lunch line, making a beeline for the tables as she weaves through the handful of students standing around. Her eyes skim over the cafeteria in search of her friends, and she spots Zay and Smackle manning the bake sale table as a small crowd of their classmates surrounds them. It doesn't surprise her that while Zay is all wide smiles and easy laughter, Smackle seems to be trying to disappear as she sinks down into her chair.

Maya can't believe that Smackle even agreed to battle the lunch crowd, and wonders which one of their friends talked her into it. Whoever it was underestimated the power of Smackle's social anxiety, and just seeing how overwhelmed she looks tugs at Maya's heart strings, pulling her towards the bake sale table. She cuts around a table to get to them, but the sight of Zay leaning over and whispering something into Smackle's ear stops her in her tracks. Whatever he says seems to put her at ease, and her previous look of panic fades into a small smile. Maya's never seen anyone other than Farkle get that close to Smackle, let alone calm her down. Then again, Zay and Smackle have become good friends over the past year, and Maya knows better than anyone that Zay has a gift for almost always knowing the right thing to say.

Feeling better knowing that Smackle is okay, Maya's focus shifts back to searching for where the rest of the group is sitting. Her gaze sweeps across the room again, and this time her eyes fall on Riley and Lucas sitting across from each other at a table in the back. Lucas's back is turned toward her, but she can see Riley's face and the wide grin spreading across it at whatever Huckleberry story he's telling her.

As she gets closer, she can hear Riley's twinkling laughter followed by Lucas's low chuckle, but neither of them notices her approaching the table until she plops down next to Lucas.

"Hey Honey," Maya says, greeting Riley as she swipes a couple of fries from Lucas's tray, stuffing them all into her mouth at once.

"Well hello to you too, Maya," Lucas says, nudging his tray over to her. "Help yourself."

Maya glances over at Lucas as if it's her first time noticing him next to her, and smiles.

"Sup Huckleberry," she says around a mouth full of fries, nodding her head toward him. She swallows a large chunk of potato before turning back to Riley and offering her a bright smile.

"Someone's in a good mood," Riley says, studying Maya with a curious smile. "What's got my best friend so happy?"

"Nothing much." Maya shrugs, feigning nonchalance, but as Riley stares back at her with doe-eyed excitement, she can't bite back her smile for long.