Secrets She Keeps

Relief

When Monday morning came, Maya hadn't yet told Riley about what happened over the weekend. Maya was unsure of how to bring it up, and she didn't want Riley to hate her, so she resolved to avoiding the brunette.

"Lucas," Riley called to him in the hallway. "Have you seen Maya?"

"Um, not since Saturday, um I mean no," he stammered, raising Riley's suspicion.

"Well, she hasn't responded to any of my texts all weekend and I haven't seen her at all today. I think something might be up with her."

"I don't know what to tell you, but I have to get to class," he quickly started for his next class.

"I know, we have the same class," Riley trailed off, unable to get his attention.

"Woah, what did you say to him?" Zay asked. "I've never seen Lucas run so fast from a conversation."

"All I did was ask him if he'd seen Maya. He said no, not since Saturday and then I told him I thought something might be up with her and he left."

"Did you say he saw her on Saturday?"

"Wait, do you think that has something to do with it?"

"Think about it, no one has seen or talked to her except for Lucas on Saturday. I think that's it."

"But how do we find out what happened if she's avoiding us and he just runs off?"

"Maybe he knows," Zay pointed to Farkle who was passing by with his books.

"What happened to you, Farkle?" Riley looked at his black eyes and busted nose.

"Lucas Friar happened! He came over Saturday and beat me up," he huffed. "Keep your boy toy's anger issues under control," he walked away.

"Ok, that covers what Lucas was doing Saturday. But what about Maya?" Zay asked.

"You don't think Maya told Lucas to beat Farkle up, do you?"

"I don't know, but there's definitely something up."

They entered the history room with Riley's father.

Lucas was sitting in his seat with an unreadable expression on his face, but Zay could tell by his shifting in his seat that he was nervous.

Maya's seat remained empty. All three of them couldn't help but stare at it.

"Does anyone know where Miss Hart is?" Cory asked the students.

They all shook their heads no. Right then, the door burst open and in walked Maya.

"I'm sorry I'm late, sir," she handed him her late slip.

"It's good to have you. Take your seat."

She and Lucas made eye contact, but both quickly looked away. She sat down wordlessly and responded to Riley's concerned face with a small smile.

To anyone else, it would have seemed Maya was just reassuring her friend of her well-being with a friendly smile. But Riley knew better. She could tell it was forced.

When class ended, she pulled Maya to the side by the wrist.

"What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean? Nothing's going on, Riley."

"Bay window. Bay window right now."

"But we're in the middle of school."

"Now I know you're really hiding something. You'd never use school attendance as an excuse."

Riley even more frantically dragged Maya to her apartment so they could sit in the bay window.

"Tell me. I want to know what's wrong and I want to know now," she demanded.

"I found something that makes me happy, Riley."

"Maya, that's good."

"I found someone who makes me happy," Maya clarified.

"That's great, why would you keep this from me?"

"Because I felt so guilty about it. Farkle said–"

"Don't listen to what Farkle said, he's wrong."

"Farkle said that sometimes people have to sacrifice their own happiness for the happiness of others. I've been doing that for years and it hurts so much," she cried into Riley's shirt.

"It's okay. It's Lucas isn't it?' she deduced.

Riley felt Maya nod her head slightly.

"Put your own happiness first, for once, Maya."

"You're not mad?"

"No, and if you dating Lucas means you'll be happy, then I'm happy. It hurts me when I see you hurting. You don't have to keep all these secrets anymore."

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I hope you liked this book. Don't forget to vote and comment! Thanks to @avneil23 for requesting this story!