Not so little anymore

Friends?

This is Jason Peterson, Maya's art teacher. He's gonna play an important role when it comes to Maya in this book. Don't worry though, he's not a bad guy. Chapter six 🙂 Enjoy!
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The silence in the art room was refreshing for Maya. Even in high school when she was painting, the classroom could get very noisy making it hard to focus. "And what exactly do you call this?" Jason asked as he looked over Maya's shoulder. Maya smiled as she put her paint brush down for a second.

"Restored hope." She said as she looked at the canvas. Maya had painted a broken heart that had been put back together with two people in the middle of it that if you looked closely you could tell it was Shawn and Katy.

"I'm guessing you just didn't think this up. Something in your personal life must have triggered it. You don't just paint emotion like this unless you have an experience with it. Have you had problems in your personal life, Maya?" Jason asked with genuine curiosity.

"Haven't we all?" She asked making him smile.

"Yes I suppose we have." Jason looked at his watch and cleared his throat stepping away from Maya. "Alright you guys you can put your paint brushes down and dump your paint down the sink on your way out. Tomorrow we will be finishing up our first paintings and then each of you will have a turn to come up and talk about them. Your dismissed." Jason spoke as he started to clear off his desk. People started to get up from their seats and hurry out of the room while Maya and her desk neighbor took their time.

"I'm Simon by the way." Maya turned around and shook his hand.

"Maya." She said as they waved goodbye to Jason and headed out the door.

"That's an interesting painting your doing. Does it have a story behind it?" Simon asked as he opened the door for Maya on their way out on campus. Maya smiled in thanks to him.

"More or less." She said as she looked at him and smiled.

"Well are you going to tell me?" Simon asked making Maya's grin turn into a smirk.

"I guess you'll just have to wait tomorrow to find out." She teased. Simon smiled and shook his head.

"Well, Jason seems to be taking an interest in it." He said. Maya started laughing.

"Maybe that's because he knows good art when he see's it." She teased again making them both laugh. "Hey I have to go meet my friends for lunch, do you want to come?" Maya asked in hopes that he would say yes.

"I wish I could, but I have another class that starts in a few minutes. Maybe next time?" He asked. Maya nodded.

"Of course." She said. He smiled and walked off towards his next class. Maya walked started walking towards the cafeteria area to go meet up with Riley and the guys. Once she got in she grabbed her food and headed over to where she saw them sitting at a table over in the corner. "Hey guys!" She exclaimed as she sat down beside Zay and someone else's tray that had been sat down. She looked up and saw that everyone was already there so she didn't know who's food it could have been. "Who's joining us?" She asked as she settled in her seat. Everyone started giving nervous glances at each other.

"We're sorry, peaches." Riley was the first to speak up and say.

"He just showed up." Farkle joined in. Maya looked at them confused but then it turned into shock as she saw Joshua Matthews sit down beside her and gave her a nervous smile. Maya gave her friends all evil looks as they all looked down and started to nervously eat their food.

"Hey, Maya." Josh said looking up at her. Maya mentally took a deep breath and put a fake smile on her face.

"Hey, Josh. How's it going?" Maya asked nicely.

"Great. Just got out of my last class of the day." He said. Maya nodded.

"Good for you." She stated. She looked back down at her food.

"Speaking of classes, what's your schedule like, Maya?" Riley asked. Maya immediately perked up at hearing that question. She actually really liked her schedule.

"Monday's I have math, science and art, Tuesday's I have history, literature and art, Wednesday's I have English, geography and music and then Thursday's and Friday's I have Spanish and French." Maya said naming off her class schedule. (I'm not sure if this is how it actually works, so let's just pretend it is.)

"Lucky. You get science on the first day." Farkle grumbled.

"Hey speaking of classes, I think Riley and I still have one left." Lucas said giving Riley a look.

"Oh yeah. We should probably get going." She said as they got up and walked away with their trays.

"Wait you guys just got here! And you didn't even touch your food!" Maya yelled after them in confusion.

"Yeah Zay and I have to get going to. I'm going to help him with his homework. Farkle said dragging Zay by the collar of his shirt out of the cafeteria. Maya's face fell as she realized what they had just done. Josh started laughing as he realized it to.

"I'm gonna kill them." Maya stated darkly. "They invited you to lunch, didn't they?" Maya asked looking over at Josh. Josh nodded his head.

"I'm afraid so. Maya we need to talk." Josh stated as he turned towards her. Maya sighed.

"Josh, there's nothing to talk about." Maya said as she picked at her food with her fork.

"Yes there is Maya. There's always something to talk about." Josh said making Maya roll her eyes.

"Not with us." Josh sighed and grabbed her hand making her freeze her movements.

"Maya, look at me." Josh said. Maya hesitated before she turned her head towards him. She knew she should have shrugged his hand off of hers but she couldn't help but feel content and happy that he was even holding her hand. "I'm getting married in eleven months, to a woman that I am madly in love with. I'm sorry that our someday didn't work out bu-." Maya cut him off by snatching her hand out of his.

"Don't do that." She snapped. "Don't talk to me like I'm freaking five. I may be younger than you but I'm not a kid anymore." She said glaring at him. Josh looked at her and nodded.

"Sorry." He said genuinely. "Look Maya just because we didn't work out doesn't mean we can't be friends. I meant what I said back at ski lodge, I don't ever want you not to be in my life." Josh spoke. Maya had to bite back her tongue from saying something she knew she would probably regret later. "I want us to be friends. What do you say?" Josh asked as he held out his hand for her to shake.

Maya stared at him. She knew she should have said no, should have gotten up and walked away right there, but she couldn't. Deep down she knew that being friends with him was going to come back to bite her in the butt, that she was going to probably end up crying on her bed like she had so many times before. But right now looking at Josh and seeing him being so hopeful for the two of them brought her back, way back. Farther than she wanted to go. She looked at Josh's hand and then back up at Josh. Knowing there as noway she would ever be able to say no with a straight face, she sighed and looked into his eyes. "Deal." She spoke softly she placed her petite hand in his and shook it. Josh's face turned into a huge smile as he let go of Maya's hand and pulled her into a hug. Maya tensed up and then relaxed nervously hugging him back. Although one thing was for sure, she was going to kill her friends.