Your Average Teenage Fugitive

Chapter 1

*Several Months Later*

Maya Grey sat in class, half awake. Mr. Adams' droning voice was enough to put anyone to sleep. She thought she heard him mention something about "cell division", but she wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to teach. Her mind was elsewhere, in a land far away, a perfect reality.

A fantasy of a life where she still lived happily with her father, Jason. They still went on heists together, and pulled them off without a hitch. Or better yet, they would live a normal life. Just an average father-daughter relationship that wouldn't lead to her changing her name from Clarissa Grace to Maya Grey in an effort to avoid the law.

Her eyes drifted shut as she tried to picture the place where her father had chosen to flee too. A remote tropical island? The frozen tundra? A massive city with crowds on every street he could disappear in? A cabin in the dead-center of the woods where he would live the rest of his days in solitude?

It was hard to picture his destination when she couldn't even recall what he looked like anymore... The image in her mind's eye of her father had grown blurry over time. If she were to ever cross paths with him, he would be completely unrecognizable to her. A stranger.

The hand she was using to support her head and keep herself upright grew tired. Her hand slipped, and her head fell hard on the desk, causing a loud thud that drew everyone's attention. Maya rubbed her forehead, with little success to ease the pain, grimacing from both the sudden impact and embarrassment.

"Sorry." She muttered. "Coffee hasn't kicked in yet." Mr. Adams glared at her, and then continued to explain something called mitosis (Maya was fairly certain she was going to fail the upcoming quiz).

"Can't say I blame you for snoozing off." whispered a girl named Kayla, a junior who sat next to her. "I'm halfway there myself."

Maya smiled halfheartedly at Kayla, hoping this concealed her thoughts that she really didn't want to talk to her, or anyone in the class for that matter.

Maya preferred to keep to herself, avoiding interaction at all costs, particularly to spare herself the headache and hassle it took to keep up a relationship with others. The other reason being she refused to allow herself to let yet another person into her life who would undoubtedly abandon her if they learned the truth about her past...

A hand darted in front of her face as someone snapped their fingers at her. She blinked rapidly, shaking herself from the daze she had been in. The hand belonged to Kayla, who Maya had momentarily forgotten about.

"S-sorry" Maya sputtered in apology. "It's just one of those days." Kayla imitated Maya's half-hearted smile. If she didn't think Maya was strange already, she certainly did now.

The bell rang, and all of Mr. Addams class gathered their things, eager to get to lunch. Maya was halfway out the door when Mr. Addams' voice rang out her last name.

Maya turned around. "Yes?"

"We need to talk about your performance in this class." Maya fought to resist rolling her eyes and instead replied "I'm listening."

"You've seemed distant lately. Not to mention your grades are slipping quickly."

"I'm sorry, sir" Maya said meekly. "I've been in a funk lately. I'll try to do better."