the only exception, a maya hart story

e i g h t

         

Breakfast the next morning was a disaster. Farkle's aunt and uncle laid out a delectable, delicious breakfast at around 10:00. Lucas and Zay scarfed down their food, oblivious to Riley's situation, while Farkle, Riley, and I barely picked at our meal.

    "What is wrong with you 3? You need to start shoving buckets full of this food into your face, because you guys are missing out," Zay said with a piece a bacon in his mouth.

    "It looks delicious, I'm just not.. really hungry," I said while staring down at my shoes.

    I think Riley and Farkle followed suit because Zay and Lucas got really quiet all of a sudden, and I no longer heard the sound of their forks clinking against the plates full of food. When no one else was looking at us, Lucas mouthed What's going on? with clear nervousness in his eyes and expression. I wasn't sure how to respond, and I didn't want to spoil our breakfast by saying it aloud. I decided upon mouthing back You'll see soon.

    "I'll be right back, I'm going to use the bathroom," Riley said, desperate to get away from the awkward mood at the table.

    "I think I'll come too," I said as I dashed off to follow Riley.

    As I opened the bathroom door, I heard a sob escape. I burst in to comfort Riley and I found her covering her face as her mascara smeared down her cheeks.

    "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL THEM MAYA?" Riley screeched as she began to pace back and forth in the ginormous bathroom. "I don't want to LEAVE.. I don't want to go home, but I know I have to.. What do I do, Maya? Please tell me what I should do," she said begging me for an answer.

    "Riley, I don't know what you want me to do? Do you want me to tell them the news or..? I don't know what I'm supposed to do to help," I said, upset that I couldn't help my best friend in such a terrible time for her family.

    "No.. I have to tell them. But.." Riley began.

    "Yes?" I asked, cueing her to continue.

    "But can you go prep Lucas and Zay for the news.. Don't worry about Farkle, I already told him," she said dismissively.

    "I know," I said, instantly regretting it. Riley didn't know about Farkle and I meeting last night when we couldn't sleep. And we wanted to keep it that way.

    "Wait, you know?" she confusedly questioned.

    "Uh yeah, we talked before going to bed last night.. but only for like.. 2 minutes," I said covering my mistake up (Not very well).

    "Okay, let's go. I think I'm ready to tell them," she said, breathing in and out deeply.

    We walked out into the dining room, and all eyes were on us when we walked in. While Zay and Lucas looked at us with pure curiosity and worry, Farkle's eyes held pain like he knew what was coming and he wanted to avoid it all together.

    "Okay, what's going on?" Zay said worriedly.

    Riley took a deep breath in and said in an abnormally calm voice, "I'm going home.. today."

    "WHAT?" Zay yelled as he heard what happened, and he stood up so abruptly that he knocked his water off the table. A loud crash hit the ground. But everyone was so captivated by what Riley said that no one noticed. I searched Lucas's face for some emotion to identify. But there was nothing. Only a wall of stone.

    "A tragedy has happened back home. I'm attending a funeral, and after that I'm not coming back to Ireland," Riley said with a shaky voice. I gave my best friend a squeeze on the shoulder to help her know that I was here for her.

    No one noticed Lucas was slowly standing up until he was at his full height and towering over everyone at breakfast. Especially me.

    "How come Maya and Farkle knew and you kept it from us?" Lucas asked in an almost scary voice that really made me feel guilty.

    "It's just who I was with at what time... I didn't mean for... I just-" Riley began but was cut off before she could finish her weak explanation.

    "MAYA, HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME!?" Lucas shouted across the table.

    In that moment, everyone froze. No one had ever seen him so mad. Lucas was normally so calm and collected. His outburst made my entire body shake and I was so mad and nervous at the same time, I was surprised I didn't faint.

    "Lucas, BACK off! Why does it mean so much to you?" Farkle said moving in front of me, as if he thought Lucas would physically harm me and he was protecting me. I was so grateful to have a friend like him.

    "Because I MADE OUT WITH HER YESTERDAY! Normally, you DON'T KEEP THINGS LIKE THAT FROM YOUR... your.. I don't know what WE are!" Lucas shouted in a moment of anger.

    And just like that, everyone knew. Everyone knew about what was supposed to be private and gently brought up in the right way. Not like that. All I could do was cover my face and pray that it would go away if I imagined I was somewhere else. It didn't. The seconds of silence passed. 7 seconds. 8. 9. Before we got to 10, Farkle decided to break the silence.

    "Maya? Why didn't you tell me that last night? We were talking for like 4 hours!" Farkle said in a clearly hurt voice. "I trusted you enough to tell you my secrets but you don't trust me?"

    "NO! IT'S NOT LIKE THA-" I tried to fix things before it all crumbled. But I was cut off.

    "Maya, you said you talked to him for 2 minutes before you went to bed..." Riley said in a shocked voice that made my head just want to explode. I didn't know how all of this had possibly turned on me when we entered this conversation with Riley talking about going home.

    "I didn't want you thinking that something was going on that wasn't as big as it seemed it was. We just couldn't sleep and Farkle and I were talking about..." I stopped, almost giving away his biggest secret and I saw his eyes widen with anger and surprise at my choices.

    "Thanks, Maya. Thanks for letting them know I told you my biggest secret. You know I trusted you to keep that to yourself.." Farkle said in a disgusted voice. He ran up the staircase, undoubtedly going to his room.

    Lucas followed him, and I wasn't sure whether he was going to comfort Farkle, or go to his own room and think about all of the terrible things I had done in one day. It sounded so much worse when it was said aloud that it had seemed in my head. That left Riley and Zay in the room, with Zay's broken glass of water still on the ground seeping into the cracks in the floor like all my secrets had seeped into my friends heads.

    "Riley...." I began.

    "I gotta.. I gotta go pack," Riley said with an obviously fake excuse that made me feel even worse than I could've imagined I would.

    Zay and I stood there in solemn silence. I could feel my tear ducts welling up, daring to burst open and let it all go. I willed them to stay strong but I could feel my will weakening. Once the first drop fell, I knew the whole rainstorm would follow.

Then Zay surprised me.

    "C'mere. Let it out," he said, acknowledging my sadness and regret.

I cried and cried and cried. How strange that the last person out of the people I thought would help was here for me when no one else was. I felt worthless, but he made me feel like everything was okay. That they would forgive me. But I just cried. I cried for my friends, for my mom, for Auggie, for Andrew. For me.

         

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HEY GUYS IT'S ZOEEEEEEEEEE

I really hope you guys liked this chapter...

DRAMA AS HELL YES I LOVE IT

ASDFGHJK,

I'll update soon, I promise...

- zoe :)