BLEEDING HEARTS , sweet pea

25. Hopelessly Romantic Maya

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
HOPELESSLY ROMANTIC MAYA

◥✤◤

     The first few months of school seemed to go by so quickly that it made Luna's head spin. One moment, she was going back to school with her friends and the next moment, she and those friends were going to the convenience store for snacks since it was a half day at school before Christmas break started. Luna and her family didn't really decorate the house for Christmas so instead, they just watched movies and drank hot chocolate while Rosalie made Christmas cookies.

     "Alright, guys. If we all pitch in, we can get the good stuff," Peyton said as they walked into the store and looked through the aisles of snacks for some stuff within their budget.

     After they each grabbed something, they went to the cashier and each pitched in whatever money they had in their pockets to pay for it all and left the store with everything in a small plastic bag.

     "Wanna come over to my place and eat these?" Luna asked as she looked at her friends.

     "Sure," Naomi said and Maya and Kai agreed.

     The five of them walked to Luna's house and Luna unlocked the door to let them inside.

     "Mom, are you home?" Luna asked.

     "In the living room," her mother replied and Luna saw her sitting on the couch watching the news.

     "We're just gonna go up to my room with some snacks and just chill out for a bit," Luna said as she held up the bag of snacks.

     "Alright," her mother replied and Luna nodded as they all went upstairs to her room and Luna dumped everything on the floor.

     Luna and Maya sat on the bed while the others sat on the floor and started eating the convenience store snacks. "I guess I'll be the first to say it. I am so glad we'll be getting a break from that school," Kai said and everyone nodded in agreement.

     "I love seeing our other friends there but the leftover Ghoulies are starting to freak me out since most of them got arrested at the drag race last month," Naomi replied.

     "Remember when they chased us from school and we had to split up?" Peyton asked.

     "That was a disaster. My lungs and throat were burning by the time I got home," Maya said before breaking off another piece of her chocolate bar.

     "What about that time Luna called out some Ghoulies for talking about Rosalie?" Naomi asked.

     "Thank God for Sweet Pea, Fangs and Toni that day," Kai said.

     "Wasn't that after Rosalie dumped him?" Peyton questioned while looking at Luna who rolled her eyes.

     "Even months later, she still has beef with us being friends. She thinks it's weird that we weren't friends before but we are now and at this point, let her think whatever the hell she wants. She even told our mom he and Fangs were over that day we soundproofed the garage which isn't really a problem but she made it sound like they were the only ones here and then Mom went on about how she didn't want gang members in our home," Luna groaned.

     "She never had a problem with that when Rosalie and Sweet Pea were still dating," Kai said.

     "You know, even if you two were together, would it really be so terrible? You guys get along pretty well, you have quite a bit in common, you can banter with each other and still laugh about it and you generally look great together," Maya said and Luna tilted her head.

     "Is this Realistic Maya talking or the Hopelessly Romantic Maya?" she asked.

     "Does it matter?" Maya questioned.

     "You know, she's not entirely wrong," Peyton said. "If you two did end up dating, you'd be a way better couple than when he dated Rosalie."

     "Rosalie is still my sister, guys. Yeah, she gets on my nerves a lot of the time and she can be annoying but I don't know if me and Sweet Pea would be such a good thing. It already bothers her that we're friends," Luna said.

     "So what? That's not your problem. It wasn't like he dumped her just to get with you. She dumped him and let him take the heat and you stood up for him because you knew what Rosalie did was a shitty thing to do. She can't be mad at you two for hanging out when she was the one who called it quits," Naomi said.

     Luna sighed. "I know. I said that to her too but I really don't know. She already hates me as it is, do I really wanna give her another reason to hate me? And we all know our mom is gonna take her side through it all. Ever since we were little kids, my parents always took her side," she said.

     "Hey. Rosalie may be the golden child or whatever, but you'll always be our best friend," Maya said as she wrapped her arms around Luna and she smiled.

     "Hey, you're the leader of this band. It would fall apart without you," Peyton said.

     "Hey! We wouldn't be a band if it wasn't for me!" Naomi said and everyone laughed.

     "She's right. If Naomi didn't say anything, would we have even spoken to each other?" Luna asked.

     "Who cares? We're friends now," Kai said with a crooked smile on his face.

     Luna probably didn't say it enough times, but she was so glad to have her friends. Naomi was the one who brought them together so the band could even be a thing. Peyton, she was very similar to Luna in terms of not giving a damn on what other people thought and just lived by her own rules. Maya may be coined as the shy one to anyone on the outside but her friends knew her so well to know that she's only a chatterbox around the people she loves. Kai was just as amazing as the others. He was pretty much the one who kept the others somewhat tamed, especially Luna and Peyton. At this point, Luna finds it hard to imagine what her life would be like if she never met them. And then she became friends with Sweet Pea, Fangs and Toni. She was sure she wouldn't even have had friends if Naomi never walked in on her. But even though she didn't tell them how much she loved them, they knew. They could tell just by looking at her face. And they loved her too.