Troubled

March 4th

It had been a couple of days and still no sign of Maya, and I've tried calling her phone every thirty minutes for the past couple of days. I also haven't managed to get back into her apartment since the first night because her mom always seems to be home. I couldn't help but this if she'd noticed her daughter hasn't come home but knowing her mom and her relationship with Maya, she probably assumed she's been crashing at my house. I've also been trying to avoid Riley and Farkle as much as I could at school because Riley had started to question where Maya could've gone. I knew I had to get back into her room, but I needed to find a way, and fast because it would only be a matter of time before Riley went to her apartment looking for her.

Lucas made his way up the steps of Maya's apartment; she didn't live that far from him, so he went over on his way home from school. He rehearsed what he was going to say if her mom answered the door..."hello Mrs. Hart, Maya asked me to stop by and grab some things for her", is what he kept repeating in his head. He only hoped that she wouldn't ask any questions as to why he was grabbing things instead of Maya herself.

Maya lived on the 6th floor in the building and normally Lucas would take the elevator, but he needed all the time to think about what else he would say to Maya's mother. He finally made his way to the door; he lifted his hand to knock but before he knew it Maya's mother was running out the door in her work uniform.

"Excuse me Lucas I'm running late. Maya's not home but you're welcome to wait inside I'm sure she'll be back any minute" she said as she rushed past him leaving the door open behind her.

"Thank you, ma'am...have a good day" Lucas shouted as she ran into the elevator

Well, that was quick I didn't even have to lie to get inside. I quickly walked through the door and headed straight to Maya's room. It looked like she hadn't been here for a few days, I thought to myself had her mom not even noticed she was missing. I mean how does a mother not notice that her own flesh and blood has yet to walk around this apartment building once for the last four days. I quickly got to work and started looking for hiding places, Maya always loved to hide things that were super important to her, and I knew this time wouldn't be any different. I finally was able to see a bag that was shoved under her bed behind some boxes. I moved the box and pulled two bags, one that looked to have a bunch of clothes in them and another that had a box inside of it. Before I could open the bags, I heard the front door fly open I knew I couldn't have been her seeing that I saw her leaving for work. The footsteps were heavier and sounded more like a man had walked into the apartment, they grew closer to Maya's bedroom and before they had a chance to get to the bedroom I threw the bags back under the bed and rushed out the window.

I saw who opened the door and to my surprise, it was Maya's mom's boyfriend. What was he doing in Maya's bedroom? I did my best to stay still so he wouldn't hear me out on the fire escape I saw him going through Maya's things and caught myself thinking what the hell was he looking for? He pulled things out of her drawers and even made his way to her closet; he grabbed a jacket that I'd seen Maya wear before...why would he be taking Maya's clothes with him? I made my way out of her room with the jacket in his hand, I waited a few minutes before I peeked my head in and heard the front door finally close. I went back to her bed and pulled out the two bags, I opened the box and found another journal I opened it and found an entry Maya had written a few days after she'd kissed her mom's boyfriend. I didn't want to read it but convinced myself I had to if I wanted to help Maya...

January 16th

I finally decided to message the unknown number back and figure out what happened a few nights ago. When I did to my surprise it was Darrion, why was my mom's boyfriend texting me? I remember the kiss but that was it. Between the messages from Darrion and photos from Instagram and videos from Snapchat, I was starting to piece together what happened a few nights ago. I couldn't believe I had done what I did. How would my mom ever forgive me? I know she and I aren't close, but I couldn't believe I would do something that could hurt her. Parts of me feel that she wouldn't even be hurt by this, but she would find a way to blame me for what happened. I know I could have done something to prevent it, but I wasn't even in the right headspace to be making decisions.

What had Maya figured out? I quickly skimmed through the rest of the page trying to find what she remembered, I skipped a few pages and got to a part where she wrote about what happened that night.

I had sex with my mom's boyfriend!! Why would I do that and how could I have been that fucking stupid. I don't even remember it, but he obviously did. I mean did he tell my mom. I guess he didn't...seeing that I was still living under her roof. But why was he texting me saying he had a good time, I feel like he was the adult, and he shouldn't have let it happen, but at the same time I'm old to know NOT to sleep with someone 10 years older than me.

Maya slept with her mom's boyfriend, maybe I didn't know Maya as well as I thought. I went on reading but skipped over the part of Maya remembering that night because I couldn't stand reading about my best friend and her sex life. I grabbed the bag that had the clothes in it and went on to take them out. What were these clothes I hadn't seen Maya wear any of them, in fact, they looked more like clothes you would see on girls who were way older than us?

I took the bags and shoved the clothes into my backpack and made my way home. Hopefully, this journal will give me more information as to what Maya had been doing the past couple of months.

Lucas walked back to his house replaying what he just read while he was sitting on the floor in Maya's room. He looked through his phone trying to see if he missed signs of what was going on with Maya the last few months but nothing. He went through her Instagram and found a couple of photos she posted from some museum in New York, he zoomed in on one and noticed the outfit Maya had on, it was a tight-laced black dress and Lucas remembered seeing it in the bag that was currently shoved into his backpack. The other photo was of the back of some guy's head, but who was the guy...could it have been her mom's boyfriend? Lucas never got a good look at Darrion but the guy in the photo had a body type that matched the glance Lucas had just gotten of Darrion. But if it was Darrion, why would Maya be at a museum with him and why would she wear something like that but more importantly if it was him was her mom there?