― ❝Are you kidding me? Look at me and tell me that we don't ooze chemistry.❞
❝Okay, first, you should never be allowed to say ooze, and second...We don't ooze chemistry.❞
❝You totally just lied.❞
OR
―❝ a boy from canada named tj jameson moves to new...
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Riley and the rest of the gang has tried to get TJ to tell them what happened with how he got his black eye, but he wouldn't tell them. Maya knows that he will tell them eventually when he's comfortable with telling them so she and the others stopped bringing it up.
TJ felt bad for keeping something like this from his friends, but he just wasn't ready to tell them. His home life was a touchy subject for him. He currently sat in his Art class, one he had with Maya and Riley. He sat next to the girls on Maya's side as he painted his assignment. He had to pick a picture of a bench in Central Park to paint for the assignment.
He's not the best artist in the world. His talent is more on the music side, but he is pretty good at painting which surprised him. He tried not to listen in on Maya's and Riley's conversation with Mr. Jackson, but after hearing that Maya wasn't being herself he couldn't help but listen in.
"What are your influences, Ms. Hart? Why are you who you are?" Mr. Jackson asked Maya.
"When I look at this picture, this is what comes out." Maya explained. TJ raised his eyebrows, wondering what she must've painted.
"I'm sorry you don't like it."
TJ's eyes grew wide at hearing her apologize. He hasn't known Maya for that long, maybe at least a few months, but from what he knows of he knows that Maya doesn't always apologize, especially for art.
Riley looks at her best friend with wide eyes. "What? Maya, no, you're not sorry. Since when you have been sorry about anything?" Riley looks at Mr. Jackson with a smile. "Mr. Jackson, she's a rebel, and you're going to love her."
"Ms. Matthews, I'm sure Ms. Hart can speak for herself." Mr. Jackson speaks as he looks at Maya, who was looking at him nervously. "Come on. Who are you influences?"
"What do you mean?" Maya asked him.
"Artists have influences. Sometimes those influences can help them discover their own unique voice." Mr. Jackson explains, getting up from the chair he sat down on beside Maya. He walks over to stand in the middle of the room. "And sometimes those influences, uh, turn you into a copycat."
"Maya isn't influenced by anybody." Riley looks at Maya. "Are you?"
Maya just shrugs her shoulders. "Whatever you say."
"Okay, Maya, this isn't you." TJ spoke, looking at the blonde-haired girl with worried eyes. He knew that something was wrong with Maya.
Maya looks at him with furrowed eyebrows, tilting her head to the side. "What?"
TJ sighs, setting his paintbrush down beside his canvas. "You always know what to say and you're not afraid to speak your mind." Maya furrows her eyebrows at what he says. "What changed?" TJ asked her, looking at her with concern.
