"You know, I saw the moving trucks a couple of weeks ago, but I've still never seen anyone coming in or out of that house across the street. Maybe it was just a ghost that moved in, or I was just imagining things." said Riley's best friend Farkle.
"Ghosts aren't real Farkle. You're the child genius, you should know that." Riley protests, pulling a pan of brownies out of the oven as she did so.
"Seeing as how I am no longer a child, I am no longer a child genius either. I'm just a regular old genius, as boring as that may seem." Farkle laughs, gazing longingly at the brownies.
"Well, I'm going to take these over to the new neighbor if you don't mind. If you see your boyfriend, tell him where I've gone." Riley instructs, plating the brownies and slipping some sandals on.
"Will do. I hope that you don't get possessed or anything." Farkle says with some false encouragement.
Riley rolls her eyes and heads out with maybe just a little bit more nervousness than she had initially intended. She crosses the street and knocks on the door.
"Hey, I've brought some welcome to the neighborhood brownies! I'm sorry that they're late, my roommates ate the last batch before I managed to smuggle them out of the house." she calls when no one answers the door. Riley hears a creak and is about to flee the premises for fear of the supernatural when the door opens up just enough for blue eyes to peer out at Riley.
"You brought brownies?" a girl's voice asks.
"Yes, I did, May I come in?" Riley asks, reassured by the young woman's apparent humanity.
"Sure thing. Excuse the mess. I haven't unpacked much, yet." she apologizes as she opens up the door.
Riley sees a shorter woman around her age with long blonde hair and the brightest of blue eyes.
"Here." Riley passes the plate to her with one of her brilliant and best smiles.
"These are delicious. Thank you, hi, I'm Maya Hart." the young woman introduces herself.
"Riley Matthews. I'm quite pleased to meet you." she smirks again and Maya begins to think that if her new neighbor keeps this up she'll go blind within the month.
"So, what brought you here?" Riley asks.
"I just wanted to get out of city, and this is close to my university." Maya answers despite herself.
"We go to the same school as well, then. That's pretty neat." Riley says, taking a seat on a stool while munching on a brownie.
"What are you taking?"
"Art and literature." Maya isn't sure that anyone in the history of ever has taken this much interest in her before. Answering all of Riley's questions was starting to get exhausting.
"Come on upstairs and I'll keep working while you interrogate me. I need to get this done." Maya suggests, before grabbing what was left of the brownies and bringing them with her.
Riley ignores the jab and finds herself another stool to sit on while Maya works on another canvas and brownie.
"So, do you just paint or do you do other stuff as well?" Riley asks.
"Wherever my muse takes me." Maya answers evasively as she mixes shades of brown.
"Cool." Riley says before trailing off thoughtfully, going much more quiet than Maya had thought possible.
"You should come out with the guys and I sometime. I'm sure that they would love to meet you. It would kind of help to disperse the rumor that you're a spirit of someone deceased as well." Riley suggests nervously.
"Or I could just start a garden." Maya teases.
"Well, maybe I want an excuse to hang out with you again and that was the best one that I could come up with off of the top of my head." Riley pouts.
"You could always just ask me out, and then I wouldn't have to start a garden or meet new people." Maya says with a smile that seemed to light up the entire attic room.
"If it means that I get to see that grin again, anything." Riley promises. "Though my friends are great, I assure you."
"Yes, your assurance makes it all better." Maya says in a drolly sarcastic voice.
"Great. I'll pick you up at eight tomorrow." Riley informs her without giving her the chance to say no, grabs the last brownie, and her plate before leaving. She stoops to kiss Maya's cheek and escapes back across the road.
"Are you still Riley?" Farkle asks as she literally skips into the kitchen.
"Yeah, but I've got a date with Caspar tomorrow."
